


querencia

by fairyslush



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, M/M, OT3, a lot of butchered latin, adult room ot3, gratuitious indie music, i am so sorry @ all my language teachers, inspired by all the pretty space movies that came out this year, no ong is not starlord i PROMISE, the space adventures au that no one asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-10 14:44:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12914088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyslush/pseuds/fairyslush
Summary: (n.) a place where one feels safe,a place from which one's strength of character is drawn,a place where one feels at home.in the vastness of the universe, three boys find home in each other.(a WAT december 2017 ficfest entry)





	querencia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peach_highlites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peach_highlites/gifts).



> this is a lot. let me tell you in advance that this is a lot. this was supposed to be a piece by piece gift to my fellow adult room enthusiast and bunniel noona alex, but things got out of hand in the planning stage and this gigantic thing was born. i cannot say that everything is a hundred percent original, because almost nothing in this world is original and that is but a concept purported by god-knows-who, but pretty much everything here is a product of my imagination, and there may be more to come.
> 
> so before anything else, i would like to thank everyone who bore with me while i screamed about this entire prompt for a whole two or three months. i would like to apologize to latin for everything i did. and i would like to show my love to you, dear reader, for actually clicking at this and even giving this a chance of a read. (*offers you a batch of homemade cookies*)
> 
> you're wonderful, whoever you are. catch me @minhyuns_ / @kngdaniels_ on twitter.
> 
> p.s. for a quick look at race names and traits, click  here  please.

☽

they call it _caelius_ ; the cathedral of the sky and the stars.

it’s a beautiful behemoth in the middle of the cosmos redshift 7 galaxy, an intergalactic masterpiece of gothic architecture floating on a massive space rock from a chunk of a meliorene moon. the main structure is shaped like a dome, with turrets and towers of different heights rising from the egg-like orb, giving it a crown-like look. silvery arches twist and turn to decorate the exterior, and crimson orbs litter around the crosshatch to mimic a celestial forest.

the dome is spacious; around twenty-thousand humanoid beings, thirty-thousand dwarf-like creatures, and fifty-thousand shapeless globules of living matter can be comfortably seated in its many pews. the aisle is elevated, made with see-through siglirus glass that gives the feeling of walking atop the stars, along with a pit to seat a fifty-piece intergalactic orchestra. its main attraction, though, is the exclusive bonding mechanism—a marble pillar etched with ancient runes of bonds that traverse eternity and beyond—that makes it a prized venue for weddings and bonds.

daniel has _dreamed_ of getting married in caelius, back when he was young and unknowing of the responsibility attached to his lineage. he has seen himself dressed in traditional clothing—all gold and white and gleaming—gleefully glowing beside a being he loved with all his might, with all his heart. in his daydreams, the crown is but an afterthought.

never in his life would he have thought of doing it like _this—_ in the peak of his youth, hand-cuffed to a pole on the altar, feigning serenity on his features when every nerve in his body is telling him to run, _run, **run.**_

“we are gathered here today –” the minister drones, his raspy voice magnified in the hollowed hall. daniel knows that those words are traditional beginnings to a bonding of love eternal, but it sounds like a death sentence to his ears.

“to witness a historical union between one of the most powerful beings in the universe—”

his father _decreed_ it—a political alliance between him and the heiress of a gigantic empire of travelling merchants. _for power_ , the meliorene king reasoned, but daniel fails to understand the intricacy of necessity despite his half-hearted approval to entire union. half-hearted, because he knows his heart is elsewhere; not within the confines of the celestial cathedral, further beyond the golden majesty of the glimmering sphere he once called home.

( _once_ , because daniel cannot bring himself to call it home without seeing two faces: one betrayed, and one disappointed. his young heart cannot bear with either.)

daniel moves his wrists to test the integrity of the metallic cuffs that bind him to the altar. they are weak, and he knows he can break out of entrapment with little effort. but the weight of responsibility stops him from causing a ruckus, its heavy burden hitting the brakes on any attempt of escape.

> _one more time, yeah  
>  wanna go back to the time, yeah_

a small smile curls upon his lips at the ever familiar tune—faint, but detectable by his superior hearing. it’s _pathetic,_ really—to feel desperate enough for another chance with that rowdy pair that he’s beginning to hear their de facto theme, when he knows, by _heart_ , that their ship of the same name must be billions of light years away.

but maybe they’re not. _maybe_ , daniel thinks, they’ve come back for him, ready to whisk him away from the miserable life of a king who wants nothing to do with his crown. maybe—just _maybe_ —they’re on their way, and the tinkling tones of that earth song from humming stereos is the trumpet to herald their unwarranted arrival.

> _sophie marceau was famous when I was a child in jamsil  
>  we were dancing with a dj at the disco_

the sound grows louder, nearer. daniel thinks it’s a hallucination.

but he hopes. he wishes. he _prays_ that it is not.  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3087 :: AIAGG – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 4920 – 33**

the galaxy is as unsafe as it is endless. there are many dangers that lurk in the darkness that the stars call home, and even the most skilled of intergalactic authorities find it hard to keep the peace with the large amount of space they have to protect. in the many centuries that have passed, crime rates have been on a steady rise, and the intergalactic authorities have found themselves low on organic power and on the brink of being overthrown by lawless forces.

to answer this need, the ruling beings of the cosmos decided to establish a specialized school that will provide skilled mediators, combatants, diplomats, and soldiers that will vow to uphold the peace of the entire universe. they called it _arisde_ ; a portmanteau for aristocracy and democracy. their vision is to create a school that enrolls only the best of the best, but is open to all available races, species, and beings littering the many galaxies of far and beyond.

in the middle of the andromeda galaxy, beyond the golden gates of melior and the bustling metropole of asticus, lies the famed institution, the intergalactic academy for the gifted and the grand. arisde is housed in a massive space station, the hodgepodge of space crafts, saucers, and orbs providing a cacophonic touch to the sleek architecture. everything a budding peacemaker would need can be found in its premises—from battlegrounds to training centers to state-of-the-art dormitories—making it a home away from home, especially from those who come from further parts of the universe.

it's lunch time for the arisdeans. the cafeteria is packed with uniformed students of all shapes and sizes—humanoid, globular, tentacular, reptilian, and more. far from the center of the mess hall sits the pair of yoon jisung and ong seongwoo, partaking in a homemade ( _dorm-made_ ) lunchbox filled with cytisene greens and alomean spices.

jisung, though, would like to argue that he is simply watching seongwoo engorge on _his_ lunchbox while blatantly ignoring the set-meal that every other academy student gets as their ration for lunch time.

“I should really start packing for two,” jisung quips, his lips pursed into a thin line as seongwoo spoons a piece of spiced vegetable in his mouth. “do you ever consider that perhaps _i_ would be craving for my own cooking? ever?”

“nonsense,” seongwoo answers, mouth full of prepared grains. “you get access to this whenever you want. i, on the other hand—“ chew, gulp, fork, and chew. “—need to wait for the fated time of lunch before i could taste this.”

“your dorm is literally right next to mine,” jisung banters, matter of factly. despite this, he gets his own fork and decides to pay attention to seongwoo’s forgotten meal. one bite and he understands why it is forgotten.

lunch proceeds as normal. jisung gives up on taking back his lunch pack from a ravenous seongwoo, making a mental note to have him buy a box of galaxia elixirs for next week. midterms are fast approaching, and jisung prefers to study with a constant buzz of focus, back against seongwoo’s own as he pores over the assigned tablets and tomes.

“who’s that?” seongwoo breaks the momentary silence, and jisung’s eyes follow to where his fork points.

by the cafeteria’s entrance, a bit over twenty students crowd over the academy’s newest transferee, a meliorene named kang daniel. the meliorenes are a usual sight around the academy—melior being one of the nearest planets to the space station that is arisde—but it is not everyday that the actual _prince_ of the golden race comes enrolling in their ranks.

 _crown_ prince, to be more specific.

seongwoo quirks a brow at the ongoing ruckus, and jisung notes his curious expression with a loud snort.

“you’re planning _something_ ,” the alomean raises, his head cocked to the side as a teasing gesture. “are you not fond of his majesty?” he turns his eyes to the boy in question. “by the looks of it, he _might_ be a threat to your popularity.”

“shush,” seongwoo is quick to make a zipping motion against his lips. “i want to befriend him.”

jisung makes a face of utter disbelief. “ _okay_. should i go and release some pheromones to his dire—”

“too easy,” seongwoo cuts-in, and jisung frowns at his companion’s rudeness. “we need to get him down to our _level_.”

“ _our_ level,” jisung parrots, fighting back a mocking snort. “i don’t know about you, _dearest,_ but i never considered his kind above or below my own.” a pause. “barring _circumstance_ , of course.”

“you get what i mean,” the half-sidaquin squints, impatient. “he’s the prince of the universe, for whatever’s sake. what makes you think he’ll just saunter off to our table without a second thought?”

“again, _seongwoo,_ ” there is a condescending emphasis in the way jisung says the other’s name. “i never—”

“look,” jisung thinks about forcing the other to throw-up the remains of his lunch with the interruption, but he leaves that prank to another low week. “i don’t have pheromones like you do. what if he hates me? what if he’s threatened by my handsome face?”

jisung rolls his eyes at the unnecessary self-praise.

“he _has_ to be friends with _both_ of us. all or nothing.”

“ _all or nothing_ ,” jisung parrots, shaking his head despite his wholehearted agreement. “whatever you have planned for him, i pity the poor, unknowing boy. what if he transfers out because of us?”

“he wouldn’t,” seongwoo answers, sounding all too sure that his plan would work. “that’s where you’ll come in.”

_of course._

“to be quite honest, i don’t like where this idea is going,” jisung speaks as he fixes up the empty food containers, his eyes flashing a hint of bright pink. _interest,_ seongwoo notes.  “but do i even have a choice?”

seongwoo has the audacity to pout as he whines his protests. jisung rolls his eyes, fighting back the small smile that threatens to curl upon his peach-pink tiers at the admittedly adorable act.

“you _wound_ me, jiddongie,”

“sometimes, i am very tempted to actually _do_.”  
  


☽

of the vast selection of activities his new school offers, daniel likes shower time the most.

it’s _barely_ even an activity—shower time happens as the aftermath of a rigorous class to hone combat skill and overall physique, two areas that he’s already quite gifted in given his meliorene lineage. but he likes it—likes the sensation of cool water running down every crevice of his toned, naked form, likes the rumble of the pipes as he turns the knob to the highest-pressure level. he likes the minty smell of the provided body cleanser, the fresh scent of the shampoo, the thick lather of bubbles and foam on gold-flecked, milky white skin.

most of all, daniel likes the solitude. in the blue-lit shower cubicle, he is not the meliorene prince who is destined to inherit the whole of the universe once he comes of age. against the cold tile and sleek silver features, he is not of the golden race expected to be perfect at almost everything (and he is, really, quite splendidly at that). within the frigid solace of the academy bathrooms, there is nothing attached to him save for his name.

at shower time, he is simply _daniel_ , a boy who enjoys a nice, longbath after a rigorous workout.

(enjoys it too much that he does not notice the slight commotion by the lockers, where two boys around his age pick at his safe and steal his clothes, proceeding to do god-knows-what with their bounty.)

he finishes in a bit under half-an-hour, his brain already making ample calculations to how much time he needs to spend in making himself look presentable in time for his next class. meliorenes are creatures of routine; the crown prince is not an exception, and he is set to go through the motions by drying his body before he reaches his locker.

unfortunately, he is greeted by an open safe, empty save for a cheeky note of _behind you_ on its bottom tier.

“what the—” daniel mutters to himself, clutching his towel tight against his waist as he tries to make sense of the little message. in the distance, he hears chuckles and boisterous laughter, and that is where he set his body to go.

he sees his first item of clothing by the shower entrance, a lone black sock missing its pair. its not long until he finds its partner about three or four steps away, followed by his dress pants a few feet after. a treasure trail of utter shame.

it seems as if the culprits want to be found, as the laughter he heard earlier grows louder and louder as he follows the trail of clothing. so far, he has found his socks, his pants, his inner shirt, his dress shirt, and his tie, and he is five steps close to picking up his shoes from the academy’s hallway. he gets a couple of stares and wolf-whistles from the other kids getting their things from their lockers, but the golden prince is much too focused on his task to even notice their comments on his “god-given body” and the way his muscles “ripple and flex with every step.”

another turn and he finally catches the perpetrators. the slighter, more graceful-looking one stands on his right, holding his jacket like how an earthling matador would to an angry bull. the taller, more chiseled man stands on his left, twirling his—

daniel gasps. the man on the left is casually twirling his boxers in his hand, the hugest grin painted on his visage.

“hey—” he calls out, fighting back the shivers from his post-shower nakedness. “that’s _mine_.”

the man on the left simply cocks his head to the side. “yup. here. take it.”

daniel almost drops the towel on his waist in his haste to catch his underwear.

“i could erase their memories, if you like,” the man on the right offers, his gentle smile a stark contrast to his companion’s cheeky beam. daniel feels his cheeks burn as the pretty boy steps closer, caging him inside either arm to drape his jacket over his shoulders. “i _did_ tell him it was too much, but i guess i got a good show out of it.”

daniel blinks, much too focused on the man’s lilting words that he forgets to feel his finger tracing a line against his exposed arm, ending at the back of his palm, before his hand is held by the beautiful other.

“three minutes in and you’re already holding his hand,” the more chiseled man scoffs, shaking his head with his arms crossed over his chest. it is here that daniel finally notices the situation, but a compelling aroma tickling his nose with the scent of vanilla, musk, and dried rose keeps him from backing away from the touch. “ _unbelievable._ ”

“you’re one to talk.” the pretty one banters, making no move to let daniel go from his gentle grip. “we all know this plan for friendship is just an excuse for you to see a meliorene body up close—” and _he_ gets close. “—and _personal_.”

daniel is red from his ears to his toes.

“w-wait,” he stutters out, switching his gaze from one man to the other. “friendship plan? you want to be _friends_?”

“mhm,” it’s the pretty one who answers, his nod matched with a bright, close-lipped smile. daniel feels himself blush even more, if that was even galactically possible. “sorry that we had to go about it this way. this one right here—” he gestures to his companion. said companion sticks his tongue out in return. “—is very f _ond_ of out-of-the-box ideas.”

daniel is speechless. he’s a crown prince, much too used to the grace and decorum even his closest-age peers offer him back in his home planet. it is the first time that anyone ever dared to cross his personal bubble, foregoing any of the formalities and simply telling him that they want to be friends, with no ulterior intention. after all, if they did need something from him, the pair would’ve thought twice before making him do a walk of shame along the academy’s halls.

“ong seongwoo,” the chiseled one breaks his train of thought, offering a salute instead of a handshake with his little introduction. daniel notes the three moles that form a constellation on his slightly tan cheek, does the calculations, and deducts that he’s a sidaquin of sorts. “this one right here is—”

“yoon jisung,” offers the pretty boy, obviously not fond of being introduced. this one shakes his hand, and daniel senses a pleasant tingling sensation against his skin upon contact—a mark of a highborn alomean. “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“i—” daniel pauses in his speech, waits for the pair to interrupt his introduction, to tell him that they know of him and that he has no need for further formalities. but they don’t, and daniel thinks it’s a pleasant surprise, so he goes on with the polite manner that he never seems to practice ever since his coronation. “kang daniel. the pleasure is mine.”

“he’s _adorable_ ,” jisung immediately comments, and seongwoo rolls his eyes at the almost-instant flirtation. “i never thought meliorenes could be this cute—the ones i met were all robotic and stiff.”

seongwoo shrugs, lips jutted out with the action. “i don’t know. it’s my first time seeing one up close.”

daniel stares at the pair, studying their interaction and searching for the right time to enter their conversation.

“don’t talk about me like i’m not here…” the golden boy meekly interjects, unconsciously pouting as he pleads. “you said you wanted to be friends, correct?”

“ _correct_ ,” seongwoo confirms, his eyes scrunching up in a way that makes daniel forget about any form of anger. “we want you to be part of our team—” he gestures as jisung turns to hide his scoff in a cough. “consider this your _initiation.”_

“friends, huh?” daniel mutters to himself, feeling warmer than he could ever be while clothed. a soft glow begins to leak from his skin, and soon, their entire corner of the hallway is filled with a gentle illumination.

“oh dear…” jisung blinks, leaning towards seongwoo as he proceeds with his commentary. “he’s glowing.”

“i see that,” seongwoo replies, his gaze never leaving the golden boy’s form. “is that a meliorene thing?”

“i’m _happy_!” daniel proclaims, and the pair before him wonder how his grin could possibly be brighter than the light bursting forth from his skin. “we’re friends now, okay?”

in his excitement, daniel forgets his near-nakedness and engulfs the two lithe boys in a crushing bearhug, consumed by his glee of gaining companions who see him as an equal, the towel on his waist slides on the floor, but the meliorene prince barely notices, not until a roaming teacher passes by and gives the three of them a much-deserved detention.  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3079 :: LEGION OF THE LOST – OUTSKIRTS, 7439 – 25**

_seongwoo is a strong boy. he was born strong by his mother, and after her passing, was raised strong by his grandmother until it was her time to leave the earth. he grew stronger in the orphanage, a natural leader to the younger ones in the ward, always taking the lead and leaving nobody behind. they looked up to him._

_in the darkest moments of his dreary present, he likes to believe that they all mourn for his disappearance._

_he’s a strong boy, so he shouldn’t be here, huddled in a corner as he hides from the more violent children of the legion of the lost. it’s been a week since his abduction, and the elders of the ship have shown him favor for his uncanny knack in finding escape routes after their heists._ it’s favor well-earned _, he thinks, but the other kids who have been in with the ship for far longer think that something must be up with the newbie, and they all decide that the best way to find out is to beat him up until he gives them answers._

_unfortunately, he has none to give. they move on the next best thing and beat him up until he can’t move._

_“ah,” seongwoo winces as he touches his left cheek, already feeling the beginnings of a blooming bruise. he huddles closer to the corner he found, biting down hard on his bottom lip to stop himself from crying._

strong boys don’t shed tears _, seongwoo remembers one of the orphanage’s wards saying. seongwoo believes that he’s a strong boy, so seongwoo swallows every urge to sob, numbing his mind to the pain that plagued his whole body._

_it feels like hours before he is found, and seongwoo backs into the cold wall when a boy peeks into the small entryway. he half-expects this one to deal the final blow, maybe have his suffering end with a blast from one of the fancy guns they had, but this one does the unexpected and pulls him into an embrace he has no strength left to protest against._

_“why,” seongwoo mumbles against the boy’s shoulder, his voice quivering as he gets a whiff of freshly baked sugar cookies and newly cut grass from his skin. “are you—are you not going to—”_

_“hush,” the boy gently chides, and seongwoo finds himself at a loss for words. “you’re not alone anymore.”_

_the scent of mint and lime slowly fill the small compartment. seongwoo feels his wounds close and heal, his bruises subsiding with every gentle rub the boy does upon his back. it doesn’t take much for him to feel re-energized, feeling strength return to his limbs, but a part of him wants to find every excuse to stay in the boy’s arms._

_“you’re not alone,_ seongwoo _.” the boy reiterates, and seongwoo wonders how he knew his name. “you’re not alone.”_

 _seongwoo is a strong boy._ strong boys don’t shed tears _, says his governess from the orphanage from which he came. but in the arms of a beautiful boy who smells so, so much like home, seongwoo finds strength in letting his tears fall._  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3087 :: AIAGG – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 4923 – 43**

it’s still the usual scenery at lunch. they still sit at the corner table furthest from the center of the cafeteria commotion. seongwoo still chooses to sit on the table’s surface instead of the provided chairs, and jisung’s lunch is still favored over whatever lump of celestial ingredients the academy cooks decided to pile together and call a meal.

the main difference is that they are _three,_ and daniel occupies the third space in their formerly two-man arrangement. daniel fits into the group fairly easily, and it takes him barely over a week to forego his ration in favor of stealing food from jisung’s lunch box, a phenomenon that has the poor alomean letting out the most long-suffering of sighs.

“do they not cook this well in melior, daniel?” jisung asks, setting his own fork down and pushing the rest of his lunch towards the prince of the universe. guilt flashes along daniel’s visage at the act, but he continues filling himself with the home-cooked meal after a reassuring nod from the other. “i guess i’m going to have to cook for three now, huh?”

“make that _four_ ,” seongwoo motions, unabashed. jisung squints as the sidaquin edges daniel away from the lunch and forks a hefty serving into his mouth. “this one has _quite_ the appetite.”

daniel bumps seongwoo away from the pack with a shrug of his shoulders, happily finishing the rest of the food with a single scoop. “not _my_ fault jisung makes great meals,” his voice is garbled by the amount of food he stuffed in his mouth. “maybe you should be my personal chef when i become king. i’d love to have you in my palace.”

jisung shakes his head, amused at the thought of being a cook for royalty.

“i have a _better_ idea,” he begins, collecting the emptied containers, stacking them up on the space before him. “how about you both be satisfied with your rations, so i will not have the extra burden of cooking for two growing boys and i can focus on being an intergalactic diplomat.”

“no,” seongwoo quips with an adamant shake of disapproval. daniel, unfortunately, does the exact same. “can you really bear with us eating that tasteless gruel while you enjoy top-class alomean cuisine? i don’t think so.”

“i _can,_ ” jisung lies through his teeth. curse the natural empathy running in his veins. “i should start doing that now, sitting far, far away from your pair so i can eat my lunch without having vultures like you pi—”

his litany is halted by a blaring siren, followed by the deafening crackle of the intercom booting up.

 _REQUESTING STUDENT CODE KDN-121066-MLR, STUDENT CODE YJS-030861-ALM, AND STUDENT CODE OSW-082565-SDQ TO PROCEED TO THE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE._ a beep. _HE EXPECTS YOU IN NO MORE THAN FIVE TERRAN MINUTES._

“what now,” seongwoo is the first to complain, sliding off from the cafeteria table to stand to his full height. jisung and daniel follow suit, dusting off any remains of lunch from their uniforms. “we didn’t break any rules last week, right?”

daniel shakes his head no. jisung keeps on a thoughtful expression as they walk towards the chancellor’s chambers.

“exactly _five_ terran minutes,” the chancellor bellows as a welcome, and all three boys wince at the volume of his voice. arisde’s chancellor is a gigantic humanoid, spanning about two meters in height, his white hair and beard flecked with holographic silver and the occasional strands of gold. “who knew punctuality could be one of your strongest suits?”

seongwoo opens his mouth to retaliate, but jisung stops him with a hand on his upper arm.

“what did you call us in for, sir?” jisung asks, and seongwoo rolls his eyes at the faux congeniality. daniel’s own hues flit from his two companions to the chancellor before them. “we’ve been fairly good for the past week.”

“ _absolutely_ ,” the chancellor banters, his smile sly as he weaves his fingers to form a cradle for his chin. “it’s part of why i called you here. i think it’s high time for the three of you to embark on your first s-class mission.”

“ _s-class_?” daniel is the first to interject. “just the three of us?”

jisung and seongwoo take the surprise in his tone and display it on their faces.

“correct,” the old man confirms, making a grand gesture to the three of them as he speaks. “you’re a perfect team. you’ve got a _commander_ —” he points his hand to jisung. “—a _navigator_ —” his hand flits to seongwoo. “—and a _combatant_.” he gestures to daniel last. “picture perfect. no need for further additions.”

“you sure you don’t just hate us, sir?” seongwoo says with a hint of teasing spite, earning him a slight elbowing to the gut by jisung. “i mean if you want to get rid of us, you can just tell us straight.”

“i would _never_ ,” the chancellor replies, a hand to his heart to depict his offense. the trio does not know if they are to take it as sincere or as playful. “you leave in thirteen terran hours. have fun, and god speed.”

seongwoo opens his mouth for a final protest, but the chancellor presses a button and they are warped out of his room.

“ah, the beauty of youth.” the chancellor breathes, sinking into his plush swivel chair once he is left in peace.  
  


☽

**ASTRUM – NGC 1300, 5902 – 43**

they do set off in thirteen terran hours. they fly aboard seongwoo’s beloved _sophie marceau_ , a black and red space craft of the highest-end in alomean technology. flying comes naturally to him, his sidaquin lineage giving him infinite access to the twists and turns of the universe, the maps of every galaxy flowing through his veins. a glow in his moles alert him of nearby warpholes, and the interspatial transfer is made easier with his latent skill to detect which one is most proper.

astrum is a small planet in the ngc 1300 galaxy. its population is eclectic, majority of their ranks built from intergalactic refugees looking for a new home. their customs are a mix of modern and traditional, and the same goes for almost every aspect of their daily lives. the planet owes its energy to a volatile pulsar, and they worship it like a deity, almost.

the mission is easy enough: transport a box of highly coveted equipment from arisde to astrum before safely depositing it to the planet’s ministry of keeps. aside from the long, exhausting travel that involved traversing three different warpholes in a span of a few terran hours, the ordeal is far from the normal difficulty of most s-class missions.

“is that _it_?” seongwoo quips after dropping off the final package, his steps light as he gets back on his beloved black-and-red spacecraft. daniel follows soon after. “i thought s-class missions were harder than these.”

“let’s just be thankful it isn’t anything much grander,” jisung banters, ticking off their checklist from the holographic control pad. he smiles when he sees that they’ve completed their transport duty. “what would we have done if—”

a harsh beam of light interrupts jisung’s speech, and he squints against the brightness to make out where it is coming from. seongwoo is quick to point at his cheek, covering the set of beauty marks to lessen the intensity of the glow.

“a black hole,” seongwoo clarifies, the light on his moles slowly dying out to a low illumination. “we’re near one.”

“but _where_?” jisung furrows his brows as he flits through an approximate map of the galaxy they occupy, frowning when he sees no nearby black holes in the vicinity. “it should practically be under our feet if your light is that—”

jisung pauses, his expression hardening at the horrid implication.

seongwoo curses under his breath.

“we need to get out of here,” jisung commands, swiftly setting out their return trajectories on the ship’s main control system. “seongwoo may have detected an anomaly with the pulsar that supports this planet. if the light is that intense, we have but a couple more hours before this entire planet implodes into a black hole.”

“wait— _wait_ —” seongwoo overrides jisung’s entries with his own passcode, a privilege he holds as the owner of the spacecraft. daniel stands by the corner, slowly coming to an understanding of the situation. “are we really just leaving? what about the people who live here? are you really just going to let them get sucked into a black hole?”

“the most we can do is set out an evacuation order,” jisung’s tone is final, resolute. “we are _not_ doing anything beyond what our mission dictates—i _know_ how your brain works, seongwoo, and i don’t like what you’re thinking.”

“ _jisung,_ ” seongwoo puts his hands on the boy’s shoulders, his eyes scrunching into little crescents as he offers his brightest grin at his longtime companion. “it’s _star matter_ —a pulsar. stuff my _blood_ is made of. perhaps it just needs to stabilize, and i trust my skills to provide a quick fix, giving these people more time to evacuate to a safer place.”

“but what if you _can’t_?” worry is obvious not only in jisung’s tone but also in the quiver of his pupils. “what if—”

“i’ll take care of him,” daniel volunteers from the side, effectively making his presence known. “i think i get what he’s trying to do. i can lend my own energy as a temporary stabilizer while seongwoo works on the mechanism.”

jisung pauses, his glance alternating between the two boys before him.

“fine. _fine._ ” he gives in, and seongwoo engulfs him in a grateful embrace. daniel looks as if he wants to follow suit, but the other has already pushed the navigator off before he could even make a move. “but— _you_.”

he points to daniel, and daniel feels compelled to stand a bit straighter than he normally does.

“watch his back, please. his hands are only good for tinkering, and that’s it.”

seongwoo squints at the implication. daniel fails to catch the underlying innuendo and replies with a salute.

“aye, commander.” he motions with a bucktoothed grin. seongwoo pats his lower back—a show of trust.

“i’ll provide support from here—survey the terrain and give you the easiest escape points from astrum’s underground tunnels.” jisung pulls up a near accurate map, begins locating the start and end points. “you have a few hours to make the adjustments to the pulsar. i’ll deal with permissions and clearances. you both are in charge on the ground.”

“understood,” seongwoo nods with a mock salute, signaling to daniel to prepare for their mission.

“the pulsar is highly volatile. the energy discharge after stabilization may be too much for both you to handle up close. i need you to promise me,” jisung raises both his pinkies. “if i tell you to run, you run.”

daniel twines his own pinky with jisung’s. seongwoo slowly follows suit.

“we’ll be _fine_ ,” seongwoo assures, but it is not enough to rid jisung’s eyes of the worry they hold.

they get clearance fairly quickly, and they maneuver their ship to the entrance leading to the planet’s very core. daniel and seongwoo alight from the spacecraft, swiftly navigating the maze of underground tunnels with remote aid from jisung. they reach the core in a bit over fifteen terran minutes, and seongwoo makes a face at the state the pulsar is in.

“give or take three terran hours before it caves in on itself,” seongwoo explains while scratching his cheek, fetching a multitool from his utility belt. “stabilization should take about an hour or less. you ready, daniel?”

daniel edges out to the side of the star, his hands hovering on the pulsing surface. “ready.”

“on my cue,” seongwoo searches for the powerboard, squatting down beside its hatch as he begins his count. “now.”

the plan goes like this: daniel generates enough physical power to replace the pulsar’s unstable energy while seongwoo adjusts the power converter to temporary stability. if successful, it will give the people of astrum a couple of days to prepare for evacuation, a huge improvement compared to the three hours they originally had. the technical side is barely a challenge to the innate mechanic in a sidaquin, but seongwoo—like jisung—fears the unavoidable feedback—the harsh energy discharge that signals the success in the core’s stabilization.

from experience, seongwoo knows that it should come less than a minute after the entire process is finished. he does not know if his own legs can carry him out of harm’s way, but he finds solace in having daniel with him, and he puts his trust in the meliorene prince as he proceeds with his skillful tinkering.

“all is going well?” jisung asks through their collar communicators, and both boys hum out an affirmative. daniel has yet to break out into a sweat despite the gargantuan effort he’s been exerting to create ample energy for the planet’s core. “by my calculations, you should be done in a couple of—”

the ground begins to rumble. alarm shoots along seongwoo’s and daniel’s already frazzled nerves.

back in the ship, jisung braces himself against the control pad, fearing for the worst, and hoping for the best.

“ _run_ ,” he commands, and he hopes that his intended recipients are conscious enough to follow his orders,

underground, seongwoo and daniel navigate through the many intersecting tunnels, the energy feedback close on their tails as they ran. daniel is _quicker_ —his meliorene physique proving useful in physical exertion—but seongwoo is in danger of falling behind to be crushed by the oncoming wave of pure matter. without a second thought, daniel lifts seongwoo up in his arms, leaving no room for protest as he speeds through the underground maze.

seconds. they are running against _seconds_ , and daniel picks up his pace once he sees the exit, hearing the soft rumble of sophie marceau’s engine on the other side. he leaps from the tunnel, but the energy wave catches a large portion of his back, tearing through his armor and bruising his skin before he could safely embark on the craft. seongwoo rolls into the control deck, while jisung supports an unconscious daniel, frowning at the wounds forming deep crosshatches and blooming purple bruises on the exposed skin of his back.

“fly us out,” jisung orders, supporting the tall meliorene on his shoulder, unconscious as he is dragged to the medical bay. “i’ve notified the authorities with instructions for evacuation. we’ve done more than enough.”

seongwoo nods, frantic and apologetic as he takes his rightful place by the wheel.  
  


☽

the first thing daniel sees is his topless form reflected on the mirrored ceiling.

sophie marceau is a well-maintained spacecraft—he’s got to give seongwoo _that,_ at least—and it is only now that he’s seeing the sidaquin’s valiant effort to keep the ship’s interior immaculate. he feels numb, with a tingling sensation playing on his lips, and holographic healing strips hover around his shirtless form as he lies on the ship’s sickbed.

there’s a ringing in his ears that he prays would leave in the morning. the explosion is fresh in his memory, and he remembers the searing pain from the energy shockwave that chased them out of the underground location. the meliorenes are _sturdy_ —immensely sturdier than almost all of the species in the known universe—but the feedback from the pulsar was intense enough to wound his back, even though it was an injury from awful timing. it was painful, and highly so, but he would rather him take the brunt of the impact. god knows what would’ve happened if it was seongwoo who was hit—sidaquins aren’t known for being sturdy, much more the terrans that make up half of the other’s lineage.

“you’re awake.”

he chuckles upon hearing seongwoo’s voice, a sense of relief washing over his entire form at the confirmation that his companion was, indeed, unharmed. he wills himself to sit up from the bed, and the holographic bandages merge with his body, the intricate strips sinking into his skin with the subtlest of traces.

“i am,” daniel replies, wincing as he makes a move to get off of the contraption entirely. seongwoo stops him with a stern shake of his head. “is jisung the one driving sophie?”

“yup,” seongwoo nods, gesturing for daniel to make ample space as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed. “he’s also the one who patched you up. you should thank him when you’re feeling better.”

“i will,” daniel says with a soft smile, and not without the tone of a promise.

silence. the low rumble of the spacecraft’s engine whizz and whirr against the walls of the medical bay.

“i’m—” daniel is poised to apologize, but he is pulled into a tight embrace before he could get a word out of his system.

“thank you,” seongwoo mumbles, his voice lower than a whisper, his hand carding through the golden boy’s blonde locks. “but can you promise me to never throw yourself away like that, ever again?”

daniel sinks further into the hug, his cheek grazing against the boy’s shoulder as he nods. “okay.”

“i just—” seongwoo speaks further, tightening the embrace. daniel fights the urge to wince against the pressure on his back, but he gladly welcomes the warmth that comes from the sidaquin’s hold. “you’re one of us now, you know? i don’t know what jisung would do—what _i_ would do—if we suddenly lose you.”

their pair stay that way for a couple more moments. it is seongwoo who breaks contact, immediately turning away from the golden boy’s view afterwards. daniel thinks it’s all part of the effort to hide tell-tale tears and finds it endearing.

“we’ll be in the cockpit.” seongwoo says as he makes his exit. “rest well. we’ll be back in arisde before you know it.”  
  


☽

**AIAGG – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 4925 – 43**

“you’ve overdone yourselves,” the chancellor scolds, but his tone carries more pride than dejection. he pins the purple medal of intergalactic excellence on daniel’s breastplate, patting the boy’s chest once he is finished. “i tell you to complete the simplest of s-class missions, and you end up saving an entire planet from an untimely extinction.”

he steps back, looks at the three students with pride in his eyes, his white beard gleaming underneath the harsh lights of the space station. jisung swallows a bundle of nerves down his throat once those brown eyes land upon his form, but his smile remains ever glorious as he receives his award. seongwoo is more casual, a smirk curled upon his lips as he cheekily points at his medal, earning a squeal or two from his set of devoted fans. daniel looks the most dignified, parts of his skin glimmering in gold as he stands on the stage, chin held high and back set straight.

the badge of excellence shines upon their chest, but the look of pride on their eyes holds a far greater glow than any piece of gold can ever hope to hold.

“student code kdn-121066-mlr.” daniel stands a bit straighter, his head held higher than before.

“student code osw-082565-sdq” seongwoo does a two-fingered salute, acknowledging his name with a tiny nod.

“student code yjs-030861-alm” jisung beams at the mention of his code, rocking once on his heels as he does so.

“you have brought great honor to the academy with what you have done,” the chancellor continues, eyes stern yet full of commendation. his voice rings loud in the vast space of the gathering hall. “you three were presented with a do or die situation, and all of you were quick to analyze the problem and provide a solution. your excellent teamwork saved a planet from an early extinction, and the inhabitants of astrum are eternally grateful for your valiant efforts.”

the trio beams and nods to the beginning of applause from their peers.

“congratulations, you three.” the chancellor gives out his own set of congratulatory clapping. daniel feels his heart soar at the thunderous applause that follows. “may you continue to bring pride to the entire academy.”

they exit the stage to a dozen more handshakes, a quarter more congratulations. the trio wait until their audience has thinned to just a couple of students risking demerits, before setting out on their own way to their respective classes.

it is there that jisung pulls daniel aside and plants a soft kiss on his supple cheek. daniel responds with an adorable flush, blinking in inquisition as his hand covers the area the pretty alomean touched with his lips.

“thank you,” jisung says after a few beats, his eyes soft and filled with adoration. “for keeping him safe, never leaving him alone.” his glance flits to where seongwoo stands, a couple of steps before them.

“i just did what you told me to do,” daniel begins, bashfully scratching the back of his head. “i mean you’re—”

daniel’s speech is halted by a swift flick to his forehead.

“i didn’t tell you to hurt yourself in the process,” jisung scolds, and daniel feels his cheeks getting red from unexpected embarrassment. “you’re one of us now. _i_ would appreciate it if you would take better care of yourself.”

jisung grips daniel’s hand tight, and daniel laces their fingers together to give the boy a reassuring squeeze. he sees the first pinpricks of tears in jisung’s eyes, and he is left with no choice but to nod and agree.

“i will.” he says with the intensity of a promise. “don’t worry.”

a few beats of meaningful silence pass, before seongwoo ruins the mood with a boisterous demand for food. jisung complains right on cue, and daniel laughs at the now-familiar exchange.  
   

* * *

 

**YEAR 3090 :: AIAGG – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 4926 –  43**

it’s a day of _honor_ for the students of arisde. three years pass like the speed of light, and those enrolled as part of the 87 th batch of intergalactic cadets are set to reap the fruits of their labor. around five hundred students sit on the top-most hall of the academy, a glass dome separating them from the celestial majesty of the great beyond.

daniel finishes with high honors, receiving the well-earned spot of class valedictorian with his cumulative achievements. with this, he is tasked to speak for the entire student body, a shining representative of everything arisde stands for—honor, prowess, and responsibility. the golden boy stands behind the sleek podium, eyes flitting across the sea of extraterrestrials until his gaze lands on his most familiar companions looking at him with utmost admiration.

jisung has earned the highest honor in the intergalactic diplomacy division, but the award does not stop him from turning into a blubbering mess the moment daniel begins his speech, his eyes brimming with tears while he purses his lips to cease another onslaught of the waterworks. seongwoo isn’t much of a help, fake-crying beside the emotional alomean while he haphazardly wipes his tears with a wad of tissues, and daniel has to summon every bit of meliorene discipline he had in his body to keep himself from bursting into a fit of laughter.

“this is only the _beginning_ ,” daniel slowly wraps up his speech, hiding a chuckle underneath a cough as jisung blows his nose on seongwoo’s sleeve. the face seongwoo makes doesn’t make his case any better, and daniel thinks that he has to finish this entire formality quick lest he explode in hysterics. “ _congratulations_ , class of 3090.”

he’s barely gotten off the stage when jisung leaps into his form, lithe arms latching around his neck.

“congratulations,” he offers after a happy sob, tiptoing to close the minute distance between their bodies. “you did it.”

“we did it,” daniel banters, rubbing the boy’s back in an attempt to quell his tears. it barely works.

seongwoo stands a few steps before them, a fond look in his hues as he watches his companions. daniel is quick to notice this, but the top student in the intergalactic navigator class already has both his arms spread, and daniel merely has to barrel forward to include him in the already on-going hug-fest.

in his glee, the strong meliorene lifts his two companions over his shoulders. the act is met with contrasting reactions. jisung’s giggles fill the vicinity as he is carried, while seongwoo groans out a litany of protests that fall on deaf ears.

“we’re space cadets!” daniel cheers with a momentary glow, gently bouncing the two boys up in his arms. jisung erupts in a fit of melodic laughter, while seongwoo slaps daniel’s butt for the rather dizzying act.   

“yes we are, pup,” seongwoo quips, giving the boy’s behind a hard slap. “now put me down before i puke.”

“ _never_ ,” daniel retorts with finality, and all of seongwoo’s further protests are drowned under the combined melody of an alomean’s and a meliorene’s laughter as the golden boy does a victory lap in the academy’s celebratory dome.  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3085 :: EXT – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 7440 – 08**

_gravity works differently in these parts of the universe._

_his legs hurt, his limbs feeling like they’ve merged with_ lead _, his joints burning with every step they take through the rubble. jisung grits his teeth as he attempts to keep pace with seongwoo, but it seems as if the other’s half-terran physique is immune to the gravitational fluctuations of the current territory._

_a small pebble makes him lose his balance, and he falls onto the pile of debris with a loud crash. seongwoo stops in his tracks, immediately turning back to help his friend up. but jisung’s legs feel as heavy as a neutron star, and the uneven terrain makes it harder for him to get back on his feet, much more run far from the beings chasing their pair._

_“go,” he pleads, wincing in pain as the metal debris digs against his soft skin. “leave me. i’ll be fine.”_

_“no,” seongwoo protests, his grip tight on jisung’s wrist as he pulls him up from the rubble. “you’ve lost enough._ we’ve _lost enough. i can’t—i can’t afford to lose you too.”_

_“but—” jisung’s speech is cut by six or seven fully-armored creatures surrounding their fallen pair._

_in the middle of the pack is a gigantic man, and jisung thinks his height goes over two terran meters. the man has strong, chiseled features, the white hair on his crown and his beard flecked with holographic silver and scattered strands of gold. his deep, brown eyes are hidden by thick-rimmed spectacles, and he carries with him an air of superiority that seems to be very effective in taking out every last bit of strength from jisung’s body._

_“don’t touch him,” he hears seongwoo speak, but he can feel the immense fear hiding behind the valiant threat._

_“we come in peace,” the tall man motions. jisung focuses to find any trace of malice in his voice, letting out a relieved breath when he finds none. still, one cannot be too careful among intergalactic authorities. but before he could further assess the situation, all he sees is a blinding flash of light, and the next thing he opens his eyes to a room painted antiseptic white._

_he feels relief the instant he sees seongwoo with him. his legs have ceased feeling heavy, so he walks to the opposite corner of the room to sit beside his terran companion, resting his head against his shoulder. seongwoo rests his own head atop his, and jisung uses a bit of his regained strength to fill the room with the most calming pheromones._

_“you’re awake,” a disembodied voice says overhead. jisung immediately recognizes the voice as the one from the bearded man. “i hope you both are well enough to answer a couple of questions.”_

_“do we have a choice?” seongwoo replies, his bravado never lessening despite their dire situation. jisung will always admire the forest fire resting in his mellow tone. “we’re your_ captives, _are we not?”_

 _“incorrect,” the man answers simply, matter-of-fact. “you are—or_ will be _—our guests. you only need to cooperate.”_

_their pair is asked a hefty number of questions—are they from the legion of the lost, how did they escape, is the band of notorious space pirates still thriving, where are the survivors, what are they up to, where are they going. each question is quick, coming one after the other, and jisung does his best to answer every question in a straightforward manner, his hand intertwined with seongwoo’s own long after the ordeal is over._

_“thank you,” the man says, after what feels like the thousand inquisition. “i would like to offer you a proposition.”_

_“a_ proposition _?” jisung lets seongwoo speak this time, but he squeezes the boy’s hand to keep him from saying anything that could jeopardize their delicate situation. “what kind?”_

_“you’re both skilled, experienced members—”_

_“former,” jisung interjects, almost as a reflex._

_“pardon._ former _members of your respective races.” the man continues, barely even trying to sound convincing. it’s as if he knows that their pair is desperate, and that any offer that could get them out of the streets is attractive enough for an almost-instant approval. “i believe your abilities should not be put to waste like this. how about getting enrolled in arisde? the intergalactic academy for the gifted and the—”_

 _“the grand. we_ know _.” jisung lightly hits seongwoo’s arm for the unwarranted interruption. “what’s the catch?”_

 _“there is no catch.” the man says with finality. jisung and seongwoo exchange glances; jisung finds desperation in seongwoo’s hues, and seongwoo sees an exact reflection in his. “just be_ good _.”_  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3090 :: CYTIS – PINWHEEL GALAXY, 2718 – 43**

“i’m gonna _die_ ,” seongwoo mutters, almost like a litany on loop. his entire body is covered in rashes, and he is unable to move from his neck to his toes after coming in contact with a reactive sample of a cytisene plant life.

their current mission is in cytis, a scarcely inhabited planet located in the pinwheel galaxy. the orb is home to a large amount of untouched forests, making it the perfect site to collect samples, all within intergalactic regulation. the entire mission has been done; samples have been collected from yet-to-be-named plant life, and all of it is safe in a cryogenic box built to withstand the harshness of inter-cosmos travel with the aid of a multitude of warpholes.

everything was going well, until seongwoo freezes up upon touching a specimen with unprotected hands, inflammation swiftly beginning to cover every visible space of skin from the tips of his fingers. he collapses to the ground in pain, paralyzed from the neck below, and repeats his hopeless litany as he is carried from the field and into the spacecraft.

“you’re not going to _die_ , seongwoo.” jisung half-scolds, half-assures, though daniel could see a few tendrils of concern flooding his dark hues. “stop being a _baby_ —you’re a licensed intergalactic cadet, for heaven’s sake.”

“i’m gonna die _, i’m gonna die_ ,” seongwoo repeats, unable to hear the other’s witticisms.  

jisung decides that it is best to do his first-aid preparations in silence, and he collects a needle-like contraption from the overhead compartments, quickly recalibrating the tool to its most proper specifications.

“he really looks like he’s in pain,” daniel comments, wincing as their commander jabs the instrument into a vein in seongwoo’s arm. the implement beeps as it reads the chemical composition of the allergen, before instantly creating a tailor-fit antidote that is ready for use within a few minutes. “what if it’s worse than we thought?”

“nonsense,” jisung displays laser focus as he targets a visible vein, injecting the antidote that should rid seongwoo’s body of the after-effects of an allergic reaction. “he’s survived much _worse_. it won’t do you any good to spoil him, _niel_.”

the lesions slowly subside after the dosage has been given, and seongwoo’s skin slowly returns to its natural color. despite this, the sidaquin continues his pained repetition, effectively making jisung groan in utter exasperation.

“what an impatient _patien_ t,” he groans, leaning forward to grab at seongwoo’s chin, pulling him close for an open-mouthed kiss. highborn alomeans possess vast knowledge on pheromones and their many uses, and control of pre-existing ones to speed-up healing processes are traditionally done through mouth to mouth contact.

still, an outsider without ample knowledge would think it is just a searing kiss, and daniel sits through the entire ordeal in a half-dazed state, his fingers unconsciously shooting up to touch his peach-pink lips.

seongwoo quickly returns to his normal condition, the sick bay smelling of mint and lime as jisung swiftly breaks the osculation, his hand pressing down on the sidaquin’s face to halt any attempt of his into giving chase for more.

“not the _time_ ,” he scolds, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “anyway, i’ve been taught that terran genes were far more resilient compared to even the most advanced of races. are you an _outlier_ of sorts, seongwoo?”

the man in question squints to signal his irritation. “shut up. i really thought i was going to die, you know?”

“maybe i should’ve let you,” jisung banters with a saccharine grin.  
  


☽

it’s been hours and he’s still thinking about that kiss. he knows, by alomean customs, that kisses could be anything beyond the realm of the romantic, highborn citizens having the innate capability to produce and transfer pheromones for different purposes. daniel wants to believe it’s just _that_ —a simple medical procedure with no tinge of malice—but the relationship between the two boys he calls his companions puts an immediate hamper to the safe assumption.

daniel has _never_ been kissed. romance and pleasure has never been part of the meliorene vocabulary, their kind much too focused on honing stone-cold discipline that softness has been forgotten. though his natural charm has gotten him a fair share of love letters, confessions, and the like, daniel never held an interest in lofty things concerning affection.

but there is _something._ perhaps it’s the amount of pheromones jisung exudes on a daily basis, or the fact that he’s become so, so endeared to his companions, that a curious sense has been set aflame in his conscious.

he sees jisung slip inside the pantry during terran dawn, and daniel foregoes any sense of meliorene self-control, his body on almost auto-pilot as he silently follows suit, his brain a muddled haze of many, many _thoughts._ he does not know if jisung noticed—doesn’t really care if he does—until he is met with the beautiful boy’s ever ethereal grin, his features gentle against the sea of stars from the porthole behind him.

“yes?” the alomean queries, head tilted to the side as he leans against the counter.

daniel’s legs move on their own, and soon he finds himself bracing his arms against either side of jisung’s form, effectively caging him between his body and the marble surface. he sees no discomfort on the other’s visage, not even when he leans closer, their mouths separated by mere breaths, by mere centimeters.

“what do you want to do?” jisung asks, his voice low, his brows quirked in curious inquisition.  

daniel thinks that he’s much too close, _so_ close that he could taste the sweetness of his breath upon his tongue.

“i don’t _know_ ,” he confesses, but makes no move to back away from the boy. “i—”

jisung runs gentle fingers along his locks of ashy blonde, and daniel loses any further capability to speak.

“are you sure you want _that,_ dear?” jisung’s arms easily rest against his broad shoulders, and daniel swallows his nerves, his cheeks slowly coloring with the lightest of pinks, his breath hitching against his throat. he sees jisung’s features twist into amusement, and daniel curses his genes for not having the ability to read bodily cues.

he feels soft hands land upon either cheek, and his eyes flutter close as jisung inches closer. but instead of lips touching his own tiers, he feels jisung plant a soft kiss on his forehead, and comfortable warmth spreads from his crown down to his toes.

“not yet,” jisung whispers against his ear, sending goosebumps on his gold-flecked skin. “i want your first to be _perfect_.”

daniel blinks, confused at the riddle in the other’s words, but jisung has already slipped from his hold before he could even process the underlying implications of his very loaded claim.  
  


☽

“he’s never been kissed.” jisung motions as he lies on seongwoo’s lap, the sidaquin boy tracing patterns on his scalp.

“never? never, _ever_?” seongwoo parrots, brows quirking in disbelief.

“ _never.”_ jisung confirms, punctuating his claim with a sad shake of his head.

“that’s a pity,” seongwoo comments, bottom lip jutting out as he does so. “perhaps we should—”

“we _should_ ,” jisung agrees before the other could even finish his thought. “we really should.”  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3090 :: SOPHIE MARCEAU – IN TRANSIT, 8302 – 10**

this is the last thing he expects after coming out of the shower: seongwoo pulling him out of the stall, barely waiting for him to get into a clean pair of boxers as he is dragged along the craft’s hallways and into what he knows is the biggest bedroom in the entire ship. he definitely didn’t expect jisung to be lying on the large bed in the middle of the chamber, clothed only in dark pajamas made of thin silk. the sight makes him swallow, so he turns instead to seongwoo, and it is there that he notices that the sidaquin boy is wearing a tight wife-beater, the v of his torso on full display.

“what’s this?” daniel queries, blinking at the confusing (yet admittedly pleasurable) view. a subtle warmth begins to pool in his gut.

in answer, jisung pats the space on the bed before him, and seongwoo places a gentle hand against his back to urge him to walk forth. once he is close enough to touch, jisung swiftly grabs him by the back of his neck and pulls him forward, until their faces are dangerously close, the tips of their noses lazily brushing against each other.

“wha—” daniel begins, but he is shushed by a soft finger to his lips.

“didn’t i tell you i wanted your first to be _perfect_?” jisung offers as a reminder, and daniel quickly understands.

it is jisung who kisses him first—soft and light, barely a flutter against his chops as the pretty alomean guides him down on the mattress. daniel whines at the quick loss of contact, chasing the boy’s lips and pressing harder on his end, earning a soft moan from the other. jisung cups his cheek, deepening the contact with each succeeding press of his lips.

seongwoo does not stand still for long. daniel feels the other’s lean and lithe form press against his back, and his mouth falls slack once seongwoo traces the curve of his neck with little lovebites. jisung takes advantage of this opportunity, smirking against daniel’s lips as he slips his tongue inside his mouth, and daniel revels at the fact that jisung tastes as sweet as he smells. jisung’s hand slips down to trace constellations upon his abdomen, and seongwoo rakes his nails against daniel’s chest in a way that makes the meliorene prince stutter and gasp in their combined hold.

soon, daniel is unable to distinguish whose hands are travelling upon his skin. he is limited to _guesses_ —the gentle flutters are from jisung, and the rougher scratches come from seongwoo hands. he feels fingers tug against the waistband of his boxers, and his hips automatically rise to give whoever it is an easier time to slip it off his form.

“ _good boy_ ,” he hears seongwoo whisper against the shell of his ear, and daniel turns towards the sound, lightly catching the edge of the chiseled man’s jaw with his already bruising lips, feeling a sense of pride when it earns him a low moan. 

their clothes disappear in the mess of limbs, and breaths, and sweat. they lie naked against each other, touching and caressing the exposed patches of smooth skin. daniel’s breath hitches against his throat when a hand—jisung’s, he thinks—begins to palm his hardened member, quickly reducing the disciplined royal to a stammering mess.

it’s all hands and mouths, tongues and fingers. the meliorene prince reaches his climax quickly, the entire thing being his first, and he throws his head back, eyes squeezed shut as ripples of pleasure send violent shivers along his entire form.

if daniel knew that softness felt this _good_ , he would’ve explored his options a long time ago.

the stars soon fade from his vision, and he slowly allows his eyes to flutter open. the first thing he sees is the beautiful flush on jisung’s cheeks, and the sight compels him to lean forward to claim his lips in a lingering osculation. seongwoo pulls him back when he is done, grabbing his chin to place a rougher kiss on his bruising mouth.

for a while, the only sounds in the room are of low gasps and ragged breathing.

“was it good?” jisung breaks the silence, inching ever closer, the tip of his nose brushing against daniel’s own.

“ _very_ ,” daniel answers, inhaling sharply as seongwoo wraps an arm around his waist.

“do you want more?” seongwoo asks, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses on the back of daniel’s neck as punctuation.

“ _please._ ” daniel almost begs, and the two make no move to refuse his request for further action.  
  


☽

seongwoo’s little snores fill the large chamber, and jisung wags his brows towards daniel’s direction as he leans over the sleeping boy’s form. daniel watches, curious as he props himself up on his elbows for a much better view.

“watch _this_ ,” jisung says, using his index to trace a line against the curve of seongwoo’s waist. the little act is enough to send a moan tumbling out of the other’s parted lips, and the sidaquin jolts awake, sending jisung into a laughing fit.

“what the fu—” the expletive disappears on jisung’s tongue, as the alomean is quick to cup his cheeks and pull him close for an apologetic kiss. seongwoo’s brows furrow, but he makes no move to reject the heated contact.

“you snooze, you lose,” jisung teases, and seongwoo rolls his eyes at the lame attempt at a terran catchphrase.

daniel groans from his side of the bed, pulling jisung towards his form with an impatient tug of an arm around his waist.

“just focus on me if he doesn’t want any more,” daniel motions with a pout, kissing the back of jisung’s neck as punctuation. the latter hums at the electric touch, turning around to teasingly pinch and pull at the prince’s cheek.

“well someone’s needy,” jisung proclaims, smirking as he speaks. “who knew you could be a demanding puppy?”

another pair of arms begin to slink around jisung’s waist, and he jumps—just a bit—at the tickling kisses seongwoo trails against his shoulder. the kisses quickly turn into nibbles, and jisung’s mouth falls slack at the pleasurable sensation.

“i’m not losing to _you,_ ” seongwoo declares, and daniel takes it as a challenge. the meliorene prince dives onto jisung’s collarbone and bites, making the latter’s breath hitch against his throat as daniel soothes the mark with his tongue.

“w-wait—” jisung pleads between stuttered breaths as the two boys begin to attack his neck. “let me— _ah_!”

“it’s your turn now,” seongwoo motions, nibbling against the shell of jisung’s ear. “we promise to make it _perfect_ ”  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3091 :: SOPHIE MARCEAU – IN TRANSIT, 8303 – 08**

“how did you and seongwoo meet?”

daniel asks in the middle of transit, and jisung blinks at the curiosity brimming in his hues. they’ve known each other for over four terran years, and it is the first time that daniel ever inquired about his long history with the quippy navigator. in answer, jisung pats the empty space on the couch he sat on, and daniel quickly takes a seat, looking more like a large pup eager for a bedtime story than a future ruler of the universe. jisung is wonderfully endeared.

“it’s a long story,” jisung warns, but it only seems to add to daniel’s curiosity. “do you have the patience for it?”

daniel answers with two very enthusiastic nods. jisung fights every urge to ruffle his hair at the adorable act.

he begins from the beginning. he tells daniel how he was abducted from alomea, after strolling too far from the highborn temples in the middle of playtime. he recounts how he was forced to become the legion of the lost’s expert marksman, how the elders exploited his immense knowledge of every known race to fuel their killing intent. he tells him about seongwoo, about the abuse he met from the other lost kids in the pirate ship, and how they bonded over ill-founded favor that led to a number of complications in the aftermath of their escape.

“we made the ship explode.” jisung says casually, as if it was a walk in the park for two young extraterrestrials to fell an entire pirate ship. “not in _full_ —just enough to distract everyone from our escape. alomean empathy and a sidaquin’s unparalleled knowledge on mechanics could be a very dangerous duo, you know?”

his smile never falters even if he recounts his subsequent exile from the alomean territory, his amusement obvious as he recalls seongwoo’s uncontrollable temper in the guise of non-terran morality.

“he was angrier than me,” jisung remembers fondly, though a thin layer of moisture glazes over his clear hues. “i made a promise to never use pheromones on him unless it was an emergency, but that time definitely counted as one.”

he finishes his story at the moment they were found by arisde’s chancellor, and jisung observes the cacophonic shift in the thoughtful expression painted on daniel’s features. it’s a casual retelling—he knows he left out more than what daniel deserved to know, but some of the stories are tales that should be told with their other half present, and jisung feels that it is too unfair to recount everything on his point of view alone. so he stops his retelling at a proper point, turning to face daniel on the couch in a more comfortable seating position, patiently waiting for the other to process the given information.

“that’s a _lot_ of history,” the meliorene comments, and jisung is quick to catch the pout on his lips.

“we’ve known each other for a _while_ ,” jisung confirms with a nod, and daniel’s pout deepens into an almost-scowl. jisung doesn’t know if he’s going to be amused or worried at the way the meliorene prince is acting. “may i know why you wanted to know the details of our bond?”

“i don’t know,” daniel shrugs, avoiding jisung’s piercing gaze, a smart move as alomeans are natural empaths with an uncanny ability to accurately read thoughts from the subtlest of bodily cues.  “i just…”

a pause. jisung motions for him to continue, watches the tips of the boy’s ears flush and redden.

“i feel out of place sometimes.” daniel confesses, looking more like a dejected pup with each passing second. “you both have your inside jokes and exclusive cues, and i just—i don’t _know_. i feel like a glorified third wheel.”

“and you don’t like it?” jisung focuses on feelings, in true alomean fashion.

“i don’t like it,” daniel parrots, nodding as he crosses his arms over his chest. “but i feel _awful_ for wanting to intrude.”

jisung shakes his head with a soft chuckle, finding the assumption ridiculous. smoothly, he inches forward to wrap his arms against the other’s shoulders, pressing a soft kiss against the meliorene’s gold-flecked cheek.

“we were the _past_ ,” jisung begins, kissing daniel’s cheek after every pause. daniel softens at the show of affection, his brows unfurrowing as he melts into the other’s touch. “you are our _present_. i mean that in every way possible.”

daniel quirks a brow, sucking in his cheeks to prevent an obvious grin from forming. “really?”

“really.” another kiss, dangerously close to the corner of daniel’s lips. daniel is much too focused on the other’s next words to even think about any possible implication. “you’re one of us now—if you want to be, that is. after all…”

jisung’s hands move from daniel’s shoulders to his hands, and he laces their fingers together in one swift move. daniel squeezes the pair, momentarily thinking of how perfectly jisung’s hands fit against his.

“we are mere _turds_ in the presence of his ever-golden majesty.”

daniel frowns at the self-depreciation, even though it is obviously a joke. “… _jisung_ ”

“i’m kidding,” jisung is quick to swoop in for a final kiss on daniel’s cheek, freeing one hand to ruffle the blonde mop on the crown prince’s head. “your kind are truly, _truly_ dense.”  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3092 :: MELIOR – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 7441 – 43**

melior is golden from its turrets to its roots, every piece of architecture made from the valuable metal abundant in meliorene soil. the trio received a summons from the royal court, in the form of a mechanical meliorene bird—also gold in color—that temporarily took over sophie marceau’s controls and warped them into the glittering planet in a matter of terran seconds. seongwoo did not appreciate the intrusion of his precious space craft, but jisung keeps him from saying anything too scathing, especially in the presence of the offender’s sole heir and offspring.

“does your dad do this a lot?” seongwoo asks with a furrow of his brow. “you _know,_ take over ships and all?”

“not really, _no_.” daniel replies with a short shake of his head. “this must be an urgent matter.”

the _aurum citadel_ serves as the home of the meliorene royal family. it is a majestic structure, made with intertwining arches of many different shades of gold. spiked turrets rise to form a beautiful asymmetry, and the entire edifice shines under the glow of the three noontime suns shining against clear skies of the golden world.

they park their craft in the humongous hangar, and the two non-locals gape at the lavish splendor the entire planet prefers to consistently display. the meliorenes, after all, pride themselves in being _the_ superior race, and the philosophy is stark in the grandness of their buildings, in the grandeur of their many spaces.

“welcome,”daniel’s father bellows as their trio enters the humongous throne room. daniel leads their procession on the aisle to curtsy at the appropriate distance. “this is melior, the land of the _superior_. i do hope your travel was peaceful.”

“yeah, about tha— _ow_!” jisung elbows seongwoo before he could even say another word.

the monarch fails to notice the little ruckus, much too focused on sauntering down the many steps that separate his throne from the tiled floor. his scepter glimmers as he walks, the orb of energy at its very end crackling with low noise.

“before anything else, i would like to thank you both for taking care of my dearest son,” the king begins his speech once his feet are safe on the reflective tile. jisung and seongwoo reflexively fix their postures upon being acknowledged. “daniel has obviously grown _fond_ of your company, and i’m sure he’s learned a lot from his time with you.”

jisung opens his mouth to supplement the claim, but the monarch is quick to continue.

“unfortunately, i regret to inform you that your time with him is about to _end_.”

surprise paints seongwoo’s features, his brows furrowing at the unacceptable claim. jisung turns his gaze to daniel’s direction to see if the boy knew of this arrangement, but his expression denotes that he knew just as much as they did.

“what?” daniel questions, his tone carrying a thousand signs of protest. “what do you mean, father?”

“your coronation is soon,” the king reasons, and his voice denotes that he is not giving anyone ample space for valid argument. “i know you’ve been busy with your duty as an intergalactic cadet, but you are bound for much greater things, and i highly believe that now is the peak time for you to take over the throne of the universe.”

“but i’m—” daniel begins, an awful discomfort pooling at his gut. “i’m not ready for—i mean— _i_ —”

“ _nonsense_ ,” his father deflects, waving off his pleas with a swift gesture. “besides, you won’t be ruling alone.”

there is a glint in the monarch’s eyes that has daniel’s stomach twisting and curling. “…you don’t mean—”

“you’re getting _married_ ,” the king confirms what daniel fears most. “to the eldest daughter of the largest, most well-known merchant in the whole of the universe. i’m sure you’ll make a lovely couple.”

“ _who_?” daniel makes it obvious that he does not like the situation one bit. “i don’t even—i haven’t even met this…this merchant’s daughter you’re speaking about. and you’re expecting me to _marry_ her?”

seongwoo’s fists clench at the ongoing discussion. jisung keeps a steady hand on his arm to calm him down.

“we meliorenes do not care for _romance_ , daniel,” jisung shakes at how untrue that assumption is. “this marriage is for the good of your people, for the betterment of the entire universe. isn’t that what you want to do most?”

daniel is stock-still, his knuckles turning pale at how hard they are clenched.

“excuse me, _sir_?” seongwoo bravely interjects, raising a hand as if he was in an academy setting. the monarch, as expected, does not look pleased at the unwarranted interruption. “ _yeah_ —with all due respect, or whatever—don’t you think it’s weird to expect your son to immediately agree to your wishes? i mean…” jisung squeezes his wrist to signal him to stop, but seongwoo continues with stating his piece. “marriage? coronation? don’t you guys do hugs first?”

the monarch looks at him with a most condescending once-over.

“how dare a _halfling_ speak on my son’s behalf,” the king mocks, and seongwoo’s face contorts to surprise before melting into a cocktail of anger and annoyance. “your other lineage is not even that stellar—nomadic sidaquins have no right to run their mouths in front of a meliorene! it’s like a dog trying to order his master!”

jisung is quick to hold seongwoo back from any rash movement. “your _highness_ , with all due respect, i think—”

“a highborn alomean,” the king comments further, and jisung does not appreciate the snarl on his lips. “i would’ve been more willing to listen to your kind, but are you not the exiled son of the current high priestess?”

jisung stumbles back, looking unutterably wounded by the blunt accusation.

“a pity, but keep your dishonor to yourself.” the king mocks.

two meliorene guards surface from the golden floor to hold daniel back from attacking.

“ _father_ —” the prince shrugs away from their hold, a guard’s strength being no match for a royal’s. “they are my friends. my _companions_. you have no right to speak ill of them when all they’ve done is take good care of—”

“you’ve gone soft,” the king interrupts, his heels resounding against the tile as he walks forth. “how _disgraceful_.”

the hollow sound of the king’s ringed hand meeting daniel’s supple cheek rings throughout the hollowed hall.

everything after transpired too fast. seongwoo leaps from where he stood, eager to protect the meliorene boy, but he is quickly seized by the guards who were all hiding on the reflective floor. jisung releases a flurry of pheromones to weaken their attackers, but a quick punch to his gut by a meliorene guard is more than enough to put him out of commission. daniel turns to aid his betters, but his father drags him away with a vice grip, and even he is powerless to resist.

the last thing he sees are the two boys being pulled out of the throne room—jisung unconscious over a guard’s shoulder, while seongwoo kicks and struggles against the tight meliorene hold.

 

☽

they wake up in a _room_ , not a dungeon, at least.

the entire ordeal gives seongwoo the most awful of _deja vus_. the first and last time he set foot on alomea, he is met with the disheartening news of jisung’s exile from the supposedly gentle race. as marksman of the legion, jisung broke the code of non-violence that all alomeans swear by, and that alone is enough to sentence him to banishment, even though seongwoo could argue with them that everything he committed was out of forced necessity, and not want.

seongwoo remembers everything clearly—the immaculate temple where everything took place, the beautiful priestess whose voice sent goosebumps popping on his skin, his anger at the unfair decree, the muted sadness in jisung’s hues at losing the place he once called home. he remembers fighting the urge to _fight_ , to scream against the prejudiced decision, but his alomean better is much too kind and stops him from doing anything that would worsen their situation.

( “it’s not fair!” he remembers yelling, fists clenched once they are inside the provided room. “this is your home!”

“it is,” he recalls jisung saying, and seongwoo can feel every sliver of sadness he painstakingly held back in favor of the front of a most peaceful grin. “it _was._ but it seems that i have a new home, seongwoo.” )

this whole commotion is too familiar to the sidaquin, and it frustrates him to no end.

“nothing good ever happens when i visit the homes of the people i care for!” seongwoo screams, kicking the leg of a nearby chair in an attempt to ease the anger in his veins. “first—you—and now—”

jisung is quick to pull the stammering boy to a warm embrace. “seongwoo…”

“i mean at least i had you— _have_ you—after the entire deal in alomea.” seongwoo laments, his voice slowly breaking with every word. “we were…we were just starting, jisung. i don’t want to lose him now.”

“i don’t want to either,” jisung motions, rubbing gentle circles against seongwoo’s scalp. “neither of us do. but i’m afraid the decision is his to make, and we have no right to intrude on his wishes.”

as if on cue, the door to their separate chambers open, and daniel peeks from the small opening.

“daniel!” seongwoo exclaims, grabbing either of the prince’s hands as he pulls him inside. jisung stands in the nearby corner, his stomach twisting at the cautious body language the meliorene displays. “what happened? are you—”

“i’m pushing through with the marriage,” daniel confesses, unable to look straight at his companions. “it’s for the betterment of the universe—i don’t think it would be very proper of me to refuse that opportunity.”

seongwoo blinks, his eyes widening once comprehension kicks in. “you’re _what?_ ”

“i agreed to the arrangement,” daniel clarifies, but jisung reads unease in his features. “the wedding will take place soon, so i’d like to extend my proper farewell before i go and—”

“ _bullshit_!” seongwoo yells, and daniel stumbles back like a shocked, dejected puppy. “the betterment of the universe? _propriety_?” his voice grows louder with every word. “pardon me, _your highness_ , but we’re not as dense as you.”

“seongwoo,” jisung’s voice is stern as he puts a hand on seongwoo’s shoulder, but the latter simply shrugs it off.

“do you think i have a choice?” hurt oozes from every syllable daniel speaks. “he—my father will _kill_ you if i don’t.”

“what do you make of us?!” seongwoo snaps, charging forth to get as close to daniel’s face as much as possible. “do you think that we’re some sort of _weaklings_? have you forgotten where we came from? have you—”

“seongwoo!” jisung’s voice breaks at the reprimand, the tears in his eyes enough to make seongwoo back down.

“we could’ve solved this _together_.” seongwoo’s lips quiver as he speaks, yet his head is held high as he keeps his eyes locked on the crestfallen royal. “i hope you’re _happy_ with your decision.”

daniel has lost any strength to argue. he turns his back to the downcast pair and exits in silence.  
  


☽

they do not bid him farewell. jisung and seongwoo leave in the dead of terran night, putting sophie marceau on stealth mode as they fly out of the meliorene atmosphere and into the outskirts of the andromeda galaxy.

jisung is worried, so he proceeds to seongwoo’s chambers with a pot of signature cytisene tea.

“seongwoo?” he mutters to make his presence known, but his expression soon turns into that of knowing amusement when he sees the sidaquin boy poring over blueprints of caelius and maps of the cosmos redshift galaxy.

“we’re getting him back,” seongwoo declares, eyes trained on the most viable exit and entry points of the celestial cathedral. jisung is quick to put the pot of tea down by the side table, immediately rushing to wrap his arms around seongwoo’s form, his eyes already brimming with tears of pure relief.

“i _knew_ it.” jisung comments, nuzzling against the crook of seongwoo’s shoulder. “you meant none of what you said.”

“oh, i _did_ ,” seongwoo banters, his free hand reaching to hold jisung’s own. “i _do_ want him to be happy.”

jisung laces their fingers together, squeezing seongwoo’s hand as a sign of affectionate gratitude.

“with _us,_ specifically.”  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3092 :: CAELIUS – CR7 GALAXY, 5683 – 10**

the wedding takes place a week after it was decreed. daniel went back to the room to bid a proper farewell to his (former?) companions, but he is not even surprised when he finds the chambers _empty_. he feels regret, of course, but what is there to be done? he had no choice and he knows that there is little he could have done to make amends.

still, he would’ve wanted to say _goodbye_. the four, _five_ years they spent as one were undeniably the happiest days of his life. he finds it unfortunate that it ended so soon, but perhaps his father is right. a meliorene has no use for being soft.

so here he is, handcuffed to a pole by the caelian altar, listening to the minister drone before he gets bound to a stranger. he knows he could break out of the cuffs without much effort—meliorenes _do_ pride themselves on their superior strength, but where would he go if he escapes? all that waits for him if he causes a commotion is the floor of a cold dungeon, not the wayward pair who taught him warmth and love, among other important lessons.

> _one more time, yeah  
>  wanna go back to the time yeah_

_hope is a dangerous thing,_ daniel thinks. he’s in the middle of his own arranged wedding and all he could hear is the faintest sound of _sophie marceau_ playing over whatever the orchestra decided to run with for the entire event. it’s a fond song, after all—seongwoo said it was from a band called humming urban stereo—and it has unofficially become their trio’s little themesong, mostly as tribute to the spacecraft that has never let them down, not even once, not ever.

his desperation is probably making him hallucinate. he is dejected at the thought of marrying against his will, at an age where he could be exploring the universe. he hears the sound grow louder with each passing second. daniel makes a mental note to visit a meliorene soul-doctor for a few sessions of counselling for grief.

> _do you remember the famous roller rink in town  
>  the guys were pretty frantic trying to teach us how to skate_

the sound is too real to be a hallucination. daniel begins to look around, equal parts hopeful and afraid. the rest of the diverse audience, including his fiancée, also attempt to locate where the bubbly music is coming from.

“what is that god awfu—”

the minister’s words are drowned by a loud crash, followed by the screams of an unwitting populace.

> _wanna go back to that sweet time  
>  those days are still a good thing_

beneath the dust and the debris, daniel sees an ever-familiar silhouette. the black and red lines of sophie marceau’s exterior are hard to miss, and the meliorene prince would never mistake it for anything else. a longer, closer look reveals jisung standing by the open hatch, his arm outstretched and inviting, beckoning him to run forth.

the glow that leaks from daniel’s gold-flecked skin is almost blinding.

“get in _loser_!” seongwoo’s voice is unmistakable through the same external speakers blasting _sophie marceau_ just a few moments earlier. daniel thinks he’s doing a terran film reference or some sorts. “we’re going rogue!”

that’s it. that is the cue he is waiting for. without further delay, daniel uses his strength to break out of his bonds, the pole to which he was tied breaking in half with the sheer force of his power. with apology in his eyes, he turns toward his supposed future wife, holding her by her shoulders, and hoping that his meliorene charm will work its wonders.

“you’re really _beautiful_ ,” he begins, and he is relieved when he sees the girl blush from his honesty. “but you’re unfortunately very, _very_ far from my type. i’m so sorry, ma’am. to you and your father both.”

with that speech, he kisses both of her cheeks, before leaping from the elevated altar onto the sturdy glass aisle. meliorene guards huddle forth to block his exit, but a huge beam of non-lethal energy blast them off of the platform.

“isn’t that an alomean?” one of the audience asks, pointing at jisung as he recalibrates the ship’s pair of motion-controlled blasters. the lingering scent of mint must’ve given him away. “that’s against your mandate, young man!”

“i’m _exiled_ , ma’am!” jisung quips with no remorse whatsoever, and he playfully aims the black and red guns at the patch of audience from which the question came. high-pitched screams form a cacophonic melody with the continuous loop of _sophie marceau._ “i really only have that puppy over there to lose, so i’d appreciate if you don’t get in his way!”

daniel never thought he would miss being called a pup, but his heart swells with familiar term of endearment.

the entire cathedral has plunged into chaos. jisung disperses the crowds away from the ship with a series of non-lethal blasts. a part of caelius’ ceiling is on the verge of falling apart, and a loud crash from outside is a tell-tale sign that one of the turrets have fallen in the middle of the invasion. the meliorene king frantically orders his guards and his people to block daniel’s way, but the prince is much too strong to be overpowered by a mere set of commoners, and he easily pushes all intrusions off of the elevated aisle as he makes his way towards the open hatch.

> _one more time, yeah  
>  wanna go back to the time yeah_

once daniel is a few feet away, jisung disengages one of the blasters in favor of a grappling hook, aiming at the golden boy’s belt and cheering when it successfully hooks to the accessory. he taps the ship’s hull, and seongwoo quickly reels daniel into the space craft’s hangar, the meliorene prince laughing as he rolls onto the metal floor he was beginning to miss.

“we’d like to stay for the after party, but i don’t think our ticket covers that,” seongwoo jokes as he prepares to ascend, the surrounding air pressure causing a number of guards to fly off from the vicinity. “see you never, folks!”

with that, jisung re-engages the ship’s blasters, aiming at the cathedral’s ceiling to aid a quick escape.

the king of melior stands by the altar, his knuckles turning white with how hard his fists are clenched.

“i’ll get him back,” he vows, fire in his eyes as he watches the ship go into a warphole. “those rascals will pay for this.”    
  


☽

**OUTSKIRTS – CR7 GALAXY, 5684, - 43**

they fall back into their past routine easily, _naturally_. it’s barely been an hour since daniel’s successful return to their trio, and jisung is already nuzzled against his neck, his legs draped over the former prince’s lap. it’s a show of relief—alomeans are known to be quite handsy creatures, and the sweet smell of vanilla in the air is clear indication that the extra affection is nothing but a gesture of gratitude for their successful retrieval.

still, seongwoo does not appreciate the public display of affection, and he makes it obvious with a loud groan.

“get a _room_ ,” he mutters, throwing a rolled-up candy wrapper at the pair’s direction. a smirk curls on jisung’s lips, and he takes the hostility as a cue to dive further against daniel’s neck, ghosting kisses over the exposed skin.

“don’t wanna,” jisung childishly banters, shaking his head as he wraps his arms around the meliorene’s wide-set shoulders. seongwoo’s scowl deepens, and he takes a hefty swig from his bottle of space lemon vodka.

“there’s more than enough space here,” daniel motions as he spreads his free arm, gesturing to the space within it. “i think we all deserve a couple of cuddles, especially after everything that has happened.”

“no thank you.” seongwoo rolls his eyes at the overt display, taking it as his cue to move to the pantry.

the act is met with stares and quirked brows from the pair cuddled by the sofa.

“is he okay?” daniel innocently asks, still quite unused to the sidaquin’s fluctuating temperament. he remembers their heated exchange back at the meliorene chambers. “is he still mad at me?”

“he’s _fine_ ,” jisung assures, playfully ruffling the blonde mop on daniel’s head. “go follow him.”

daniel does as he is told. jisung merely shakes his head at the way his companion acts in the guise of showy affection.

“seongwoo,” daniel calls out as he enters the pantry, but he is not given a chance to let out another word as he is pinned against the nearby wall, his last sights being the three moles on seongwoo’s cheek before the latter catches his lips in a deep osculation. daniel freezes, but only for a bit, and it takes mere milliseconds before he reciprocates the act, his fingers raking through the darkness of seongwoo’s hair as he tugs him ever closer.

it is seongwoo who begins and it is seongwoo who ends their heated exchange. with ragged breaths, the chiseled male rests his forehead against daniel’s own, rough hands tight on either side of the meliorene’s cheeks.

“welcome back, pup,” he breathes, eyes looking deep into daniel’s own, his words punctuated with a softer kiss.

by the pantry’s doorway, jisung simply waits for the opportunity to enter, snickering at the ever-familiar hot-and-cold front the sidaquin puts forth. he counts to ten before he slips inside, his eye smile ever-contagious, before grabbing the pair by their arms and pulling them to his chambers.  
  


☽

“ _welcome back, pup_ ,” jisung sing-songs, voice filled with teasing jove, as he wraps his arms around seongwoo’s thin waist, lithe fingers skillfully slipping underneath the thin material of his shirt. seongwoo shivers against his touch, and jisung smiles at the barely changed reaction.  “you’ve been with me for god knows long and you’re sti—“

“shut up,” seongwoo cuts him off before the alomean could finish his sentence, an act that has jisung bursting into a fit of hearty chuckles. he turns in jisung’s hold, making it so that they are face to face, and jisung opts to latch against the sidaquin’s neck as the galactic navigator rests his hands against his waist.

“i’ve had my most important formative years robbed out of my grasp—you can’t blame me for being like this.”

“i’m not _blaming_ you…” jisung tiptoes as he speaks, his lips shortly hovering over seongwoo’s own tier. seongwoo’s eyes flutter to a close as he chases the ghost of the kiss into a real one, short and quick. “it’s kind of _cute,_ actually.”

on the nearby bed in the dimly lit room, daniel stirs in his pleasure-induced slumber.

seongwoo’s hands caress jisung’s sides as he leans forth, his nose bumping against the sharp point of the other’s own. “we’ve been together for god knows how long,” he imitates the other’s earlier speech, inhaling a smooth intake of air as a dramatic pause to his little litany, his face inching closer, _closer._  “and you still haven’t let off on your _flirting_.”

“it’s an alomean thing,” jisung offers as a defense, tiptoing once to give seongwoo’s lips a short peck. “we’re affectionate. _empathic._ loving love and _making_ love is what we do the best—shouldn’t you already be aware?”

“i _am_ ,” seongwoo smirks, and jisung moans at the playful glint he sees in his dark hues. “painfully so. i’ve been a—“

their conversation is cut by a louder groaning from the nearby bed, the exhausted meliorene being the only culprit for the interruption. the pair chuckle at the rather spoiled act, but they decide to give in to those silent wishes to carefully crawl on the bed and trap the former prince in the softest, warmest of cuddles and kisses.

seongwoo takes the space on daniel’s right, while jisung nuzzles against the blonde’s left side. jisung reaches over daniel’s torso to intertwine his fingers with seongwoo’s, and the sidaquin hums his appreciation.

the ship rocks to the gentle motions of the universe, and the trio sleeps their most peaceful slumber.   
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3093 :: SIGLIR – HOAG’S OBJECT GALAXY, 1047 – 43**

seongwoo’s ideas are always either one of two things: brilliant, or downright _idiotic._

today is a wonderful example of the extreme discrepancy in his planning. going to siglir, a planet known for its bustling night-life and its motto of never-ending fun for a much-needed break? brilliant. chugging down an alcoholic elixir that was meant for a creature that is ten times his size because of some weird urge to prove his strength in front a newbie drinker in kang daniel? funny, borderline stupid, but not downright idiotic. a coincidental run-in with a former member of the legion of the lost while drunk off his ass? still okay, really. still quite amusing.

but— _but_! a heavily intoxicated ong seongwoo sauntering off to the said former member of the legion of the lost, immediately bringing up an age-old prank that said former member still held a grudge for as some misguided conversation starter, and starting that conversation with a slurred “HEY _BUDD_ Y! DOES ECTOPLASM STILL LEAK FROM YOUR BUTTHOLE?” as a sort of attempt for congenialty? downright idiotic. definitely downright idiotic.

of course, the poor former pirate, humiliated in front of his newfound peers, lost his temper and broke his shape-shifting glamour, reverting to his original form of a pee-yellow, ten-foot glob of tentacles and anger, one of those tentacles aiming to slap some cold, hard sense into ong seongwoo’s pretty little head.

jisung is quick to react to the threat, but him pushing seongwoo out of harm’s way just gets him stuck inside the blob’s jelly-like form, and he struggles to keep at least half his torso above the surface as it begins to wreaks havoc in the city.

jisung is too nice, really. seongwoo barely deserves him.

with haste, daniel drags seongwoo’s intoxicated ass out of the bar to try and chase the monster, helplessly watching as jisung’s gun proves ineffective against the creature’s globular structure. daniel attempts to do some damage with his meliorene sword, but the blade simply bounces against the monster’s gelatinous exterior.

“it won’t work!” jisung shouts from his entrapment, gesturing wildly towards one of the creature’s many tentacles. “you have to aim at that one, and only that! everything else is immune to physical damage!”

for some godforsaken reason, seongwoo decides that the orders were for him, and he raises his fists to activate the portable blasters attached to both of his wrists. as expected, his aim is as bad as his current condition, so the energy orb comes dangerously close to hitting jisung square against the jaw.

jisung’s flurry of expletives is drowned by the creature’s pained roar.

“don’t let that idiot shoot!’ jisung yells, and daniel tackles seongwoo to the ground, disarming his weapons.

jisung attempts to wriggle free from the monster’s body once more, but the slime only sucks him downwards the more he struggles against his hold. with a deep inhale, he collects his nerves enough to concoct a plan before the pee-yellow blob of tentacles and anger destroy more property than he is willing to pay-off.

“daniel!” he calls, and the meliorene immediately runs close to hear his orders. there’s a very apparent reason why the chancellor hailed jisung as their trio’s commander. “seongwoo has sophie’s remote control in his back pocket. have her fly to where we are, and aim the blasters at the spot i pointed at earlier.”

daniel nods, running back to where seongwoo is flopping around like a fish out of water. daniel is quick to reach for his back pocket, scampering around for a thin slab of black and red.

“you’re touching my butt,” seongwoo points-out, and he laughs like it was the most amusing thing in the world. in normal circumstances, daniel would’ve found the behavior endearing, but this circumstance is far from normal, and he knows that it is not the time to fall for the other’s drunken antics.

the former prince slaps the tiny control against his palm, pressing a couple of navigational buttons once it finally flares to life. the tell-tale rumble of sophie marceau soon fills the air around them, and daniel tinkers with more of the controls so his aim is perfectly targeted at that one hard spot in the monster’s gelatinous form.

“firing in three…two…” sophie marceau’s pair of guns join to form a more powerful blaster. “ _one_!”

the laser beam hits the monster square on its achilles heel. within seconds, the creature begins to violently ripple, and the poor being lets out its final shriek before melting into a messy puddle of pee-yellow slime. unfortunately, jisung doesn’t manage to escape from the creature’s hold in time, so he emerges from the carnage covered in sticky fluid, his face an accurate portrait of long-suffering as he attempts to shake-off the excess from his fingers.

seongwoo waddles towards him, glee obvious in his scrunched-up hues. “that’s a familiar sight.”

and then he passes out. daniel and jisung watch as he snores on the filthy pavement siglir sports.

“why do _i_ put up with him again?” jisung asks, rhetorically, frowning as seongwoo scratches his cheek in his sleep.

“you _love_ him,” daniel answers, his expression matching jisung’s signature. “we both do, unfortunately.”

jisung sighs, unable to deny the other’s words, so he shakes his head in exasperation.

“help me get him back on the ship while i’m still feeling the love.”

“aye, commander.”    
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3071 :: MELIOR – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 7442 – 10**

_melior lies in the middle of the andromeda galaxy, a perfect location for a planet that serves as a home to near-perfect humanoids. they are the_ golden _race, blessed with supernatural prowess in almost everything—from strength, to intellect, to wit, and to charm. they are a magnetic population, almost impossible to dislike. their sturdy forms make them nigh invincible in combat, and their strategic knowledge is unparalleled, even by the most skilled of alomeans._

 _it is this privilege that grants them the mindset that they_ deserve _the universe, that every corner of the known cosmos is theirs to possess due to their impeccable lineage. they are_ superior _; therefore, they are to rule. it is a reasoning that has gone unquestioned for millennia, and it is the pillar that established their hold to infinity and beyond._

 _daniel is a meliorene, born with golden hair and gold-flecked skin, a royal blood who is the very definition of what the entire race stands for. he is five when his father, the current meliorene king, first takes him to the_ planet’s edge _, a scenic cliff that provides a grand view of the surrounding space from its golden turrets._

_“do you see that, son?” the king asks, gesturing towards the celestial ocean. daniel is tall for a five-year-old, but he still needs to tiptoe on one of the provided platforms to fully see what his father is gesturing at. “it’s beautiful, isn’t it?”_

_the young prince strains his neck to get a better view of the majestic macrocosm, but it is an effort made without regret._

_“it is, it is!” he exclaims, excited, his grin ever-bright as he faces the ruling monarch._

_“it’s all yours to claim, my son.” the king motions, placing a heavy hand on his shoulder. daniel tilts his head to the side, half-confused at the implication, but the monarch takes no time in further explaining what he had meant. “it is our_ destiny _as the superior race to rule over the entire universe, and it is what you will do when the time has come.”_

_daniel is a meliorene, born with golden hair and gold-flecked skin, a royal blood who is the very definition of what the entire race stands for. still, his young heart fails to understand the necessity of conquest, and it’s obvious in the way his brows furrow at his father’s lofty claims for intergalactic possession._

_“what if i don’t want to?” daniel asks, turning his gaze to the star-flecked ocean that stretches beyond what his eyes are able to see. “everything is really_ big _, father—what if i don’t want to keep it for myself?”_

 _“_ nonsense _,” the king’s tone is grave, and his grip tightens upon the young prince’s shoulders. daniel would wince, but any show of weakness would be subject to further scolding, and he predicts that he will get more than enough from his valiant little question. “everything you see rightfully belongs to you, my son. it is all yours for the taking.”_

_“but—” daniel attempts to retaliate, but his father squeezes his shoulder hard, and the pain forces him to remain silent._

_“i will not accept any other argument, daniel.” the king says with finality. “this is your destiny, and you will fulfill it.”_

 

* * *

 

**YEAR 3094 :: TENEO, CIRCINUS GALAXY, 0247 – 43**

the cirinus galaxy is home to the teneo space station, a mission checkpoint for independent cadets hailing from various corners of the universe. the all-in-one stop contains various stalls that exchange mission points for universal currency, or post advisories from the latest mission directives from a selection of clients in-need. aside from the usual fanfare of trade and value exchange, the intergalactic terminal also doubles as a shopping center, and a recharging stop for exhausted cadets who would want to take a break in a stationary vessel after months in transit.

sophie marceau is safely parked in one of the attached hangars, and the trio decides to do a bit of exploring in the popular checkpoint. jisung, as commander, takes it upon himself to visit the exchange booths to find the best deal for their fulfilled missions, his natural skills in negotiation coming in handy when it comes to trading deals.

seongwoo usually sits out of the process (his wit _is_ scathing at best), so he tags along with daniel to the indoor marketplace that sells food and drink from the many corners of the known universe.

“just tell me what you want and i’ll get it for you,” seongwoo offers, handing daniel the thin slab of siglirus glass that illustrates the available menu. “i’ve been sitting down for too long—need to stretch a bit, you know?”

daniel nods at the other’s claim, pointing at some traditional dishes from cytis that he thinks would fill his palate. seongwoo does not comment on his choice, acknowledging his order with a nod before walking off to the counters.

a young girl, humanoid in form save for the horns on her head, approaches daniel as he sits on one of the benches of the hall. daniel lilts his head to the side, raising a hand to wave at the plausible acquaintance, and the girl reddens upon being noticed by the beautiful.

“y-your majesty,” she squeaks, tripping over her dainty feet as she attempts a graceful curtsy.

daniel blinks at the sudden formality, the honorific already foreign to him, despite the fact that it was all he was called in a good chunk of his meliorene life. he waves off the courtesy with a gentle hand, but it flusters the girl even more, and daniel is suddenly at a loss of what to do to amend the souring situation.

it is then that seongwoo returns from the counter, bearing a purplish cytisene stew and a slab of roasted lamb from a rare terran colony. the girl startles at the new company, and she repeatedly bows an unwarranted apology. daniel shakes his head, waving his hands once more to stop her from her many formalities, but the girl has already turned to flee the scene, careful to not act out of line on front of her assumed king.

daniel stares at her back as she disappears into the horizon.

“what was that?” seongwoo asks, setting down the tray on the plasticine table. “an acquaintance of yours?”

“no.” daniel shakes his head, brows furrowed in confusion. seongwoo mimics his confused expression, but the sidaquin boy needs no amount of overflowing alomean empathy to sense the obvious discomfort in the other’s features.

“hey,” he begins, laying a light hand on daniel’s shoulder. “are you okay?”

“mhm,” the former prince hums his affirmation. “she called me ‘ _your majesty_.’ been a while since i’ve been called that.”

there is a pregnant pause in their conversation, an easy silence formed by a lack of proper words to say. still, seongwoo decides that it would be best to break the silence, his natural curiosity getting the best of him as he poses the question he’s been dying to ask for the past few terran months after their reckless escape from the caelian cathedral.

“did you ever regret your decision?” seongwoo is straightforward, as always. “you _know_ —of going rogue instead of being crowned king of the universe like you were really supposed to?”

daniel twines his fingers, cradling his chin on the bed it formed as he rests his elbows on the table.

“not really, no.” he confesses, shaking his head as punctuation. “i never wanted it—my initial agreement was mostly from a selfish belief that the universe would be in good hands if i were to rule over it.”

a soft chuckle tumbles out of seongwoo’s lips. “well your hands are _swell,_ i must say.”

daniel catches the innuendo after a few beats of thought, blushing darkly once he realizes the underlying implication.

“on a serious note,” seongwoo continues, his expression solemn as he pokes at his order. “don’t you ever think that you’ve lost more than you gained when you went rogue?”

daniel first looks at jisung, thinks of the coquettish alomean who’s softness taught him that leadership comes in many forms. he is a meliorene that grew up on hardened discipline, but the empathic highborn showed him that a gentle manner could be a more effective methodology of ruling than whatever his father taught him to emulate. the beautiful boy has become a valuable part of his life, irreplaceable by all present standards.

the same goes for the boy beside him, he thinks. seongwoo is an intelligent prankster, a sidaquin navigator with the bravery and resilience of a true, earth-born terran. daniel admires his endless resolve, and he knows he wouldn’t be able to stand up to the dictates of tradition without the boy’s unique way of seeing the universe.

he is a meliorene still, but softened by an alomean, shaken by a terran-sidaquin. the combination would sound horrendous to his father, but daniel thinks that it is the best thing that has, and could ever, happen to him in this lifetime.

“no. _never_.” daniel swears with a soft smile, forming a cross on his chest before raising his hand as a sign of an honest promise. “in fact, i believe i gained the most i could by being with you both.”

seongwoo’s features soften, and jisung walks in just in time to notice the uncanny change in his expression. he has an inkling of what has transpired (his hobby being lingering against nearby corners to eavesdrop on conversations), but he doesn’t forget to teasingly ask his sidaquin better, loving mischief obvious in his dark hues.

“what were you talking about?” he queries, even if the answer is written in the two boys’ faces.

“nothing,” seongwoo quickly rids his features of any softness, hastily walking away from the scene before he is pressed for more. jisung beams at his ever-amusing temperament, but daniel’s subsequent answer catches him off-guard.

“i’m glad to be with you.”  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3095 :: c3-76075 – ANDROMEDA GALAXY, 7443 – 10**

their steps are heavy against the thick foliage, their boots sinking into the damp soil of the uninhabited forest.  behind them is a troop of meliorene guards, hot on their tails and fully armed, with all intents of bringing their prince home.

“do you think this will work?” daniel asks, out of mere curiosity than doubt. “my father is _very_ hard to convince.”

“we’re not going to convince him, dear.” jisung banters, making sure that he leaves a noticeable trail of pheromones for the guards to follow. part of the _plan_ , of course. “we’re just going to show him what we’re made of.”

the chase ends at the edge of a cliff. daniel and jisung stand dangerously close to the edge, surrounded by gold-garbed soldiers, their guns and spears aimed at their wayward pair. the troop divides to make space for the meliorene king. daniel does his best to keep his head held high despite the overwhelming force his father exudes.

“i’m giving you another chance, my son.” the monarch offers, hand outstretched. “come back to melior with us.”

“and then what?” daniel replies, full of confidence. even the king is taken aback at how strong his words carry. “you _force_ me to marry against my will, threaten to kill the people i _love_ if i don’t, and you’re expecting me to return?”

“everything can be amended by time,” the king parries, gesturing to either side. the guards make a show of lowering their weapons “you are _destined_ for greatness, my son. you must come back and take what is rightfully yours.”

“it is not mine, _father_.” daniel shakes his head, his eyes filled with pity for his powerhungry father. “this destiny you talk about—i never wanted it to be mine. keep it to yourself if you want it so bad, but do not involve me or them in this.”

offense paints every nook and cranny of the monarch’s features. “you are a meliorene! it is in your _blood!_ ”

“and the blood of the billions our kind have killed in the conquest for power.” bitterness rings true in the golden boy’s voice. “i don’t want any part of that violent legacy. i am a meliorene, but i am here to _serve_ the universe, not rule it.”

the king opens his mouth to argue, but seongwoo’s voice crackles from sophie marceau’s speakers.

“sorry, old man!” jisung finds it challenging to not laugh at the sidaquin’s impeccable timing. “conversation is over.”

seongwoo turns off the ship’s reflective transmitters, revealing that the ship has been by the cliff the entire time. the meliorene army gape at being tricked, but the navigator is quick to pull his companions out of harm’s way with hooks that come from sophie marceau’s hatch. daniel and jisung are lifted up to the ramp, and jisung bumps his knuckles together to activate the motion controlled blasters, aiming at the edge of the cliff as they make their quick escape.

the meliorene king coughs from the smoke and the debris, angrily slapping the closest guard once he sees that the ship has already disappeared. he curses the sidaquins and the alomeans as he walks away, thoroughly defeated.

☽

“maybe we need a _name_.”

it is daniel who raises the concern, fresh from a celebratory hug from jisung, the latter’s arms still latched around his shoulders. seongwoo blinks at the suggestion, jutting his lips outward as he considers a number of options from which they could name themselves, and jisung’s expression turns into one that is most thoughtful.

“how about the _three musketeers_?” jisung suggests, earning a snort from seongwoo. daniel looks more appreciative of the suggestion, and jisung offers him his best smile while seongwoo earns a pouty glare.

“no, no—we’d run into copyright issues.” seongwoo motions, and jisung sits back on the couch, huffing. “i’m thinking of _seongwoo’s angels_ —it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

his enthusiasm is met by slack-jawed disbelief.

“if anything, we should be _jisung’s angels_ ,” jisung mutters under his breath. “ _i’m_ the commander, you know?”

they bide their time like this, lazing around sophie marceau’s lounge and throwing suggestions at each other. an hour passes and they still haven’t got a proper moniker for their group, and jisung is tired of hearing the same suggestion from an ong seongwoo who has legs lazily draped on the backboard of the couch.

“see— _seongwoo’s angels_. let’s just use that and go!” the sidaquin whines, obviously bored from the exercise.

“no, seongwoo,” jisung scolds, pinching the bridge of his nose in plain annoyance. “we’re not calling ourselves that.”

“how about—”

the two cadets turn their attention to their final member, who finally speaks with a suggestion after bringing up the issue. worry is apparent in jisung’s features. seongwoo looks like he just wants to get everything done and over with.

“how about _the summer triangle_?” daniel offers, his expression most thoughtful.

jisung and seongwoo both tilt their head to one side, urging the other to explain his proposition.

“well—there’s _three_ of us and—” daniel begins, chewing on his bottom lip, the tips of his ears glowing red as he attempts to justify his choice of nomenclature. “ _the summer triangle_ is this asterism of three different constellations. i think…” a mega-watt grin erupts on his face to support his suggestion. “i think it would be a perfect fit?”

the other two both return to a more relaxed stance, pondering over the poetics of the moniker.

“ _the summer triangle_ ,” jisung parrots, letting the name roll against his tongue. “i like it.”

daniel beams at the agreement.

“i still prefer _seongwoo’s angels_ better,” seongwoo jokes, before raising two thumbs up from where he lay. “but i guess this is a better alternative than anything jisung could ever come up wi— _ow_!”

jisung presents a cheeky grin after successfully hitting seongwoo’s face with a throw pillow.

“we’re _the summer triangle,_ then.” daniel repeats, with finality, and his team nods with agreeable enthusiasm.  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3095 :: SOPHIE MARCEAU – UNKNOWN, 2846 – 28**

for the first time in a terran month, _the summer triangle_ has finally found time to rest, their calendars clear of any urgent missions for quite some time. it was a consensus between the three membesr—one or two terran months of rest after embarking on one ordeal after the other, where they could visit the other galaxies as guests and not as cadets.

jisung and seongwoo sit in sophie marceau’s viewing deck, watching the ocean of stars that slowly scroll past as their precious spacecraft traverse the motions of the universe on autopilot. daniel has chosen to nap the entire day in his chambers, but the other two have been bit with a nostalgia bug, and are doing their best to reminisce their moments.

“it’s been a while since we did anything like _this_ ,” seongwoo comments, arms spread against the couch as he lounges, his eyes reflecting the multitude of constellations that lie in the great beyond.

jisung, on the other hand, has his sights locked on his favorite arrangement—the trio of moles on seongwoo’s cheek.

“it has,” the alomean confirms, and they fall back into another set of comfortable silence.

the light rumble of sophie marceau’s engine provides an ambient noise to their stargazing.

“do you miss it?” jisung finally speaks, inching closer to the sidaquin male as he does so.

“miss what?” comes the easy reply, matched with a curious quirk from seongwoo’s brow.

“when it was just the two of us.”

seongwoo pauses, humming in thought.

“it had its perks. but…this arrangement is _more_ than i could ever ask for.”

a small smile curls upon jisung’s lips, and the alomean leans back on the lounge, arms crossed over his chest as his eyes flit through the glimmering majesty of the celestial ocean. 

“the _summer triangle_ , huh?” he speaks after a moment of silence. “i’m not giving _him_ up.”

“neither am i,” seongwoo banters, smirking as he slowly nods his head to the claim. “he’s ours _forever._ ”

“who is?”

it is there that daniel reappears from the opposing hall, his golden locks sticking up in soft little tufts as he rubs the last remnants of sleep from his still-closed hues. seongwoo and jisung both look at him with endearing eyes, a chorus of chuckles tumbling out of their lips when the meliorene crawls across both of their laps, seemingly deciding that it is better to rest there instead of on the comfort of his own bed.

“nothing, _pup_.” seongwoo pats daniel’s butt as he replies, while jisung gently cards his fingers through unkempt blonde.  
  


* * *

 

**YEAR 3095 :: REMNANTS OF CAELIUS – CR7 GALAXY, 5685 – 43**

they called it caelius, the cathedral of the sky and the stars.

what was once a majestic display of the finest examples of intergalactic architecture, now simply floats as an empty pile of floating debris and skeletal structures. the explosion from three years ago did major damage to the dome’s integrity, and the galaxy’s best engineers gave up on trying to restore it, leaving the place to be a historical ruin.

the entire venue is usually closed to cosmological passers, save for a few areas that turned into token tourist attractions. but no holographic barrier can stop the _summer triangle_ from exploring their proudest masterpiece on a whim.

“look what i found,” seongwoo calls from where the altar used to be. in his hand is a thick slab of siglirus glass, and a quick tap on its smooth surface reveals that it is an ancient tome for bonding.

jisung and daniel scuffle to where he is, and seongwoo directs them to the still-standing bonding mechanism. its marble surface is scratched and chipped, but it immediately whirrs to life once seongwoo deposits the tome into its proper slot, the ancient runes glowing with a soft blue light as its system activates after years of being dormant.

the trio surround the marble pillar, and seongwoo does his best imitation of a caelian minister, forcing jisung and daniel’s wrists on the appropriate slots of the bonding contraption.

“do you, kang daniel,” he glances at the meliorene male first, a cheeky glint obvious in his dark hues as he speaks. “take yoon jisung to be your galactically wedded husband, despite the fact that he will nag your ear off for all of eternity?”

daniel sputters in a half-snort, half-chuckle. “i do.”

 jisung is obviously not amused.

“do you, yoon jisung,” seongwoo parries the alomean’s death glare with a bright grin, his eyes scrunched into happy slits. “take kang daniel as your galactically wedded husband, even though he’s more like a pet than an actual lover?”

it is daniel’s turn to gape, offended at the “minister’s” choice of words.

“absolutely,” jisung affirms with a grin, before taking seongwoo’s wrist and placing it inside the bonding circle. “and do you, ong seongwoo, take the both of us to be your galactically wedded husbands, fully aware that you don’t really have a choice, because your little butt will not be able to survive the harshness of space without us by your side?”

daniel nods, wholeheartedly agreeing with every word that jisung said.

“ _hey_ ,” seongwoo’s eyes narrow at the two, but he is quick to huff away any semblance of annoyance. “ _fine_. i do”

with their mutual agreement, the pillar revolves to do its purpose, and an inch wide band soon appears in identical areas of their wrists. the three boys watch it all unfold, gaping and nodding in awe of the procedure.

“we are the past,” seongwoo begins, as a sort of premise to an eternal vow.

“he is our present,” jisung is quick to catch his flow, and his eyes are soft as they land upon daniel’s form.

“the future is us.” daniel concludes, in time with the pillar ending its rite.

they walk out of the cathedral ruins, hands tightly clasped and fingers intertwined, their left wrists sporting matching bands, the unique patterns on each making a perfect picture once joined. the two caelian suns provide a subtle glimmer to the freshly made marks as their trio walk back to where sophie marceau is parked.

“a trio of vigilante husbands, huh?” seongwoo comments, raising his wrist to admire the pattern on his skin.

“could be our new branding—” jisung follows, adding a little sway to their joined hands. “ _the summer triangle: vigilante husbands who will do the dirty work you refuse to do_ —does anyone have any objections?”

“nope,” daniel shakes his head, content as he swings both his lover’s arms in time with their steps. his gold-flecked skin glows with a subtle light.  “absolutely not.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you. i would like to rest for a million years now. 
> 
> i hope you enjoyed everything, dear. please tell me what you think of this gargantuan work. 
> 
> also, sophie marceau is an actual song. listen to it during that one part if you reread this (if you do, actually)
> 
> (oh...and buy me a coffee, if you can! https://ko-fi.com/fairyslush)


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